Insurance commissioners back brokers on health law standard

The Hill: Insurance Commissioners Back Changes To Health Care Law's MLR Standard
After more than a year of debate, state regulators ... approved a resolution calling for changes to the healthcare reform law's medical loss ratio provision. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) passed the measure 26-20, over strenuous objections from commissioners who said the process and the resolution itself would undermine the NAIC's reputation (Baker, 11/22).

CQ HealthBeat: Insurance Commissioners Embrace Broker Bill In Close Vote
The insurance commissioners, who debated a resolution for nearly 90 minutes during a telephone meeting, were divided about whether to support the measure, which is unlikely to clear the House and Senate this year. But the NAIC vote is bound to embolden brokers and their allies to lobby lawmakers even harder in hopes that the measure can resurface in the next Congress (Adams, 11/22).

Politico Pro: NAIC Wants MLR Break For Brokers
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners passed a controversial resolution urging Congress and HHS to provide agents and brokers with relief from the ACA's medical loss ratio formula. The resolution passed 26-20, with six abstentions, during a conference call late Tuesday afternoon. The vote is the most significant action the NAIC has taken in a nearly yearlong battle about exempting agents and brokers from the MLR formula requiring insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on actual health care (Millman, 11/22).

The Connecticut Mirror: Against Objections, Insurance Commissioners Vote To Back Brokers
[The NAIC resolution] identified options ... including not implementing the requirement when it comes to insurance broker or agent compensation, and allowing their compensation to be considered part of the health care quality improvement costs. ... Some commissioners also suggested that the resolution was unlikely to produce change since it asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to address something only Congress could do, and said taking a political stance could hurt the association's credibility (Levin Becker, 11/23).