Rockefeller announces mini-med hearing

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate commerce panel, will be holding a full committee hearing next week on low-value employer healthcare coverage. The hearing — titled "Are mini med policies really health insurance?" — comes after federal regulators on Monday announced new consumer-protection rules that temporarily offer special treatment to the mini-med policies.

Rockefeller said in a statement following the release of the medical-loss-ratio rules that he was "disappointed that limited benefit 'mini-med' plans continue to seek exceptions from these standards." He added that "they should know that their requests will be subject to close scrutiny."

The hearing has been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.