Iowa, Kentucky get extra time to comply with MLR rule

But North Dakota became the first state to have the Department of Health and Human Services deny a waiver request regarding the health law's medical loss ratio provision, which requires health plans in the individual and small-group markets to spend no more than 20 percent of premiums on administrative costs.

The Hill: HHS Rejects North Dakota Health Waiver, Approves Two Others
North Dakota on Friday became the first state to be denied a medical loss ratio waiver under the health care reform law. Federal regulators announced that they have rejected North Dakota's request to be exempted from that provision of the health care reform law. Two other requests, from Iowa and Kentucky, were partially approved. The waiver requests are for an exemption from the law's medical loss ratio (MLR), which requires health plans in the individual and small-group markets to spend no more than 20 percent of premiums on administrative costs or give customers a rebate (Pecquet, 7/22).

Des Moines Register: Iowa Health Insurers Get More Time To Meet Rule
Federal regulators will give health insurance companies in Iowa extra time to comply with a new rule meant to curb profits, but not as much time as the Iowa Insurance Division requested. Part of the Obama administration's health care legislation requires that if individual insurers don't spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care in 2011, they must refund customer premiums until the math works out. If the rule were instituted this year, consumers would have received $6.5 million in rebates over three years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Friday (Belz, 7/23).

Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky Gets One-Year Break On Health Care Reform Rule
Kentucky has won a break from a provision of federal health care reform law that limits profits on individual health insurance plans. But it wasn't as much of a break as the state had sought on behalf of eight companies that sell individual health plans that cover about 143,000 Kentuckians, according to a decision federal authorities announced Friday. The health reform rule that took effect this year requires companies that offer such plans to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical services or return the excess to consumers in the form of rebates (Yetter, 7/23).

KHN's Capsules: Medical Loss Ratio Deadline Extended For Two States 
Iowa and Kentucky late Friday joined the list of states granted extra time for health insurers to meet rules requiring at least 80 percent of revenue on medical care. North Dakota's request was rejected.

Modern Healthcare: HHS Denies Medical-Loss-Ratio Exemption For North Dakota
North Dakota became the first state to be denied an exemption from the medical-loss-ratio provision of the health care reform law, HHS officials said Friday. The MLR provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires that insurance companies in the individual market spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care, or else provide rebates to their customers in 2012. Currently, 12 states and Guam have all submitted applications to be exempted from this requirement (Zigmond, 7/22).