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House Dem rips new insurance rule
One of the most vocal supporters of the healthcare reform law on Wednesday morning blasted a new federal rule that sets requirements on how much insurers spend on healthcare services.
In an attempt to limit administrative spending, new medical loss ratio (MLR) rules require insurers in the small and individual markets to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on healthcare services. Insurers in the large group market must spend at least 85 percent.
Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), speaking to the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) conference, criticized the rule for lumping in insurance salesmen with administrative costs.
“You’re not a waster of time and money,” said Andrews, the ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee’s Health subpanel. “You’re a saver of time and money.”
Democrats and members of the Obama administration spent the past week trying to smooth over relations with insurance brokers in town for the NAHU conference.
Brokers feel slighted by the reform law because of the MLR rule, as well as new Web-accessible insurance exchanges that start up in 2014.
On Tuesday, Joel Ario, who heads the exchanges for the Health and Human Services Department, tried to assure the brokers that they will play a role in the state-run exchanges.
