Columnist: Regulators Lack Power Over Premium Hikes
A provision in the federal health reform law aims to "keep health insurers from unreasonably running up premiums before 2014, when they'll come more fully under federal oversight," Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik writes. He adds that although the reform law allows HHS to "set standards as to what constitutes an 'unreasonable' increase," it "doesn't give federal or state regulators any new powers to reject a proposed premium increase before it's implemented."
- "Regulators Have Little Power Over Health Insurance Rate Increases" (Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 1/25).