Iowa Commissioner: Principal Financial decision unrelated to healthcare reforms

The decision by the Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group to quit offering health insurance has nothing to do with the new healthcare reform law, Iowa's insurance commissioner clarified this week.  

Susan Voss said Thursday the company has been shifting away from medical coverage for a decade. 

"There's no correlation between health reform and Principal," Voss told Politico Thursday. "They have been slowly decreasing the medical percentage of their revenue base for 10 years now, from something like 30 percent down to 3 percent. We knew a decade ago they were focusing on a different market ... This is a strict business decision."

The New York Times on Friday reported that Principal would be leaving the health insurance market, linking the decision to the "upheaval emerging among insurers as the new federal health law starts to take effect."