N.C. Insurance Department Gets $1 Million Federal Grant

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has announced that the state’s Department of Insurance has been awarded $1 million in federal funding to help the agency implement requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, specifically for making improvements to the current health insurance premium review process.

“The Department of Insurance has a lot of work ahead of us to implement the new federal health care reform initiatives. We will use this federal funding to review our existing procedures, hire new staff and improve consumer outreach specific to approving rate changes to health insurance plans,” said Goodwin, in a press statement.

The Department’s grant application identified the following measures to improve the rate review process in North Carolina:

• Seek outside review of actuarial processes to determine areas of improvement in the process.
• Seek additional authority to expand prior rate approval to small and large employer group health and association group health plans via the N.C. General Assembly.
• Hire additional staff to accommodate increased rate filings and their review.
• Increase transparency and accessibility:
  • Improve the access and readability of rate filings that are currently posted on the Department’s website.
  • Seek authority via the N.C. General Assembly to require insurers to create consumer-friendly summaries and increased public information for rate filings.
  • Seek input and consider planning for public comment and public hearings on rate requests.

Topics North Carolina