Amy Traub

Insurance Man to the rescue?

Imagine this: your insurance company wants to charge you more for health care, but they can't do it until you get a chance to look at their finances and see if the extra cost is legit. They can't do it until they hold a public hearing where you can tell the corporate bigwigs exactly what that extra cost will mean to you. And they can't do it unless our public officials sign off. As we heard at DMI's Marketplace of Ideas event on Monday that's exactly what Assemblymember Pete Grannis is trying to accomplish in New York

According to Crain's New York Business, State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills also wants this ability to regulate health insurance rates. Crain's is surprised that an appointee of the generally anti-regulation Pataki administration would suggest new rules for insurance companies. But Mills recognizes it's both good politics and good policy.

It's good policy because health insurance rates in New York are out of control. Premiums hikes are in the double digits year after year and HMO profits keep going up . What's more, New York already regulates other kinds of insurance. When insurance companies wanted to raise their premiums for workers' compensation by a whopping 29.3 percent last year, the State Insurance Department took a look at their books and said it wasn't warranted. Employers across the state benefited when their insurance costs remained steady. Those of us struggling to afford health insurance should get the same opportunity.

As for the good politics: how would you feel about a public official who had successfully taken on the insurance companies and kept your rates from going up?

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Posted at 6:24 AM, Oct 26, 2005 in Insurance Industry
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