White House White Board: Health Reform & Rate Review 21DEZ10

AMERICA continues to realize benefits from health care reform passed earlier this year, including protection from premium rate increases based on insurance company greed. This from HHS
For the past decade, Americans have seen double-digit health insurance premium increases.  From 2000 to 2010, premiums rose 114 percent and nothing suggests that the quality of insurance coverage improved.  In many cases, insurance companies had free reign and weren’t held accountable when they attempted to raise rates on consumers. Only 26 states and the District of Columbia can reject premium increases that are excessive or unjustified, and many of these states lack the resources to use this authority to protect consumers.
That’s beginning to change.  Here’s how:
First, the Affordable Care Act gives states $250 million to enhance their rate review procedures so they can better protect consumers and stop unreasonable premium hikes from taking effect. 46 states and the District of Columbia have already received a share of these resources and they’re using the new funds to make more information about premiums available to the public and get the authority they need to oversee the insurance marketplace and protect consumers.
Second, the Affordable Care Act brings new transparency to the health insurance market by requiring insurance companies to publicly justify any unreasonable premium increases.  Under the new rules, if an insurance company proposes to raise rates by 10% or more, they must publicly disclose on their own, as well as HHS’ website the justification for the increase. The appropriate state insurance commissioner or, if a State does not have an effective rate review process, HHS, will then review the insurance company’s justification to determine whether or not the increase is justified.  In some states like, Washington and Maine, all new insurance premium rates, regardless of whether they are below 10% need to be approved by the state insurance commissioner’s office ahead of time, and will continue to be reviewed moving forward.
Shining a bright light on health insurance premium increases and conducting aggressive rate review will help control costs for American families. And we know rate review works. States like Washington and Maine have strong review laws that have been effective at protecting their residents from out-of-control premium increases.  And just recently, Connecticut regulators recently rejected a proposed 20 percent rate increase that would have impacted 48,000 consumers after their review found that such an increase was unjustified and excessive.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has recorded a new White House White Board video to explain just how this new rule works, and how rate review helps states review and crack down on unjustified premium hikes and protect consumers:

Stephanie Cutter is Assistant to the President for Special Projects

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ABORTION...Tell Sebelius: listen to women, not Catholic bishops from CREDO 4DEZ10

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ABORTION, it is about birth control, and the Catholic Church should not be making the decision on this issue. Click the link to sign this petition....

Overturn Obama Administration's decision on free access to birth control HHS should provide free access to birth control Clicking here will add your name to this petition: I stand for women's reproductive health. The Department of Health and Human Services should listen to women, not the Catholic Bishops, and mandate free access to birth control. We have a chance to undo one of the worst decisions of this administration when it comes to women's reproductive health and make birth control for women free by designating it preventive health care. But we'll have to fight back against the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and ensure that President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services listens to women and not the theocrats when it comes to making decisions about women's reproductive health. Help ensure women's reproductive health is covered in preventive care: tell Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to listen to women, not the Catholic Bishops, and recommend providing free access to birth control. When President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, we didn't imagine that his administration and a Democratic majority in Congress would move us backwards when it came to women's reproductive health. But time and time again, the White House has failed to counter conservative initiatives that leave women without comprehensive health care. First, the White House capitulated to Congressman Bart Stupak during the debate of health care reform and issued an executive order reinforcing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds going toward abortion services. Then, in a surprise move, the White House eliminated abortion coverage for women in high-risk pools, even if they paid for this service with their own money.1 This was an anti-choice action that went beyond even the Stupak amendment. The latest blow for women's reproductive health care was equally unexpected. Health care reform paved the way for making birth control free for most women as long as it's designated as "preventive care" for women. But the Department of Health and Human Services refused to do so. Fortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services is revisiting its earlier decision on this issue. In fact, HHS issued hearings on what services should be considered preventive care for women and a panel of experts will issue a recommendation to HHS about what services should be free under the new health reform law. Tell Kathleen Sebelius: Listen to women, not the Catholic Bishops, when it comes to reproductive health. Click here to automatically sign the petition. Yet again, it appears that the Catholic Bishops and other anti-woman groups are the ones shaping these discussions. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops testified formally during the first meeting of the panel. Why are Bishops weighing what does or doesn't qualify as preventive health care for women? HHS has a unique opportunity to decide to give women complete and comprehensive health care, including critically important reproductive health care. You can help stop the rollbacks to women's reproductive health rights: Sign our petition to the Kathleen Sebelius now. Click here and your name will be added automatically. We can't continue to sit by while the Catholic Bishops shape decisions on women's reproductive health. Thank you for working to protect women's rights. Becky Bond, Political Director and Ali Rozell, Activism Fellow CREDO Action from Working Assets 1 Women's Groups Respond to Obama's Ban on Abortion Coverage in High-Risk Insurance Pools RH Reality Check, July 15, 2010

HEALTH CARE DEATH SPIRAL from MOJO 12 FEB 10

Last week the LA Times reported that Anthem Blue Cross planned to raise premium rates by 39 percent for some of its customers. HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanded to know why. Yesterday they answered:
Financial woes have pushed healthier people to drop coverage or buy cheaper plans, the company argued to Sebelius.
...."While this dynamic always exists, in a challenging economy it becomes more prevalent as individuals who are paying for coverage without a government or employer subsidy must choose to continue coverage or use the money for other necessities," wrote Brian A. Sassi, president and CEO of the consumer business unit at Wellpoint, Anthem's parent company.
....WellPoint said the increases relate only to the individual insurance market, less than 10 percent of its California members, and that a minority of its 800,000 individual policy holders will see 39 percent increases. The company said an independent actuarial firm concluded its rates were "sound and necessary."
That's pretty much the answer everyone expected. Normal medical inflation was up less than 10 percent last year, so that doesn't come close to justifying a 39 percent rate hike. The only thing that does is getting stuck with a smaller, sicker pool of customers as healthy people decide to pay their mortgages instead of continuing to shell out for health insurance they're willing to risk living without.
This is, of course, the primary argument for single-payer health care, in which everyone is covered and everyone shares costs equally. Failing that, it's also the argument for an individual mandate. Basically, any system that doesn't rely on pools of customers (the entire country, an entire age cohort, an entire union, an entire company, etc.) runs the risk that healthy people will opt out, driving prices up for everyone else in an endless spiral. They'll eventually opt back in, of course, but only when they get sick—and this is, needless to say, not a sustainable business model.
However, as President Obama said on Tuesday, it's "a preview of coming attractions" if we don't get our health care act together. That's why the Senate and the House need to get serious about figuring out a compromise and passing health care reform. It's not going to get any easier by waiting.