Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division has finalized changes to its health insurance rate review process that make all information submitted as part of an insurance company’s rate request open to the public.
“Consumers now will be able to see everything their health insurer provides the state when they request a rate change,” said Teresa Miller, administrator of the Insurance Division. “We look forward to providing even more information to Oregonians about potential rate changes and receiving their input through a new public comment process.”
The Insurance Division must review health insurance rates for individual, small employer (two to 50 employees), and portability plans before they take effect in Oregon. Portability plans are available to people who lose employer-sponsored coverage. As in many states, health insurance rates in Oregon have been rising by double digits, reflecting increases in medical spending. Experts expect that trend to continue in 2010, particularly for individual policies.
New rules put in place reforms passed by the 2009 Legislature. These include:
- A 30-day period for the public to comment on rate requests.
- More detail about what insurers spend on salaries, broker commissions, marketing and advertising, and other administrative expenses.
- Ability to consider an insurer’s overall profitability rather than just costs for a particular type of insurance such as individual health plans.
All the changes are effective for rate requests filed on or after April 1. An advisory committee that included insurers, small businesses, and consumer groups worked with the division on the rules.
“Our department has been working for the past several years to make health insurance costs more transparent,” said Cory Streisinger, director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. “Providing the public with information is key as we as a state and nation grapple with escalating health care costs.”
A law the department proposed in 2007 made health insurance rate review filings open to the public, and the new rules build on that effort to improve transparency. DCBS publishes an annual report called “Health Insurance in Oregon,” which provides financial and market data about Oregon’s major health insurance companies, available at http://tinyurl.com/OrHealthIns2010.
Topics Oregon
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