- 285
FYI:
A deeply divided plenary body of the NAIC passed a contentious resolution backed by health insurers and agents but not consumer groups late Tuesday that urges the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take “whatever immediate actions are available” to release agents and brokers from medical loss ratio (MLR) strictures enacted under the 2010 health care reform act.
In a word, or several, the HHS should put the MLR enforcement requirement on ice, allow state adjustment requests or reclassify compensation to producers, the NAIC said.
The resolution, which passed 26-20 after a nearly 90-minute conference call -- and two prior unsuccessful, yet strong, attempts to either amend it to mitigate its demands or to send it back to committee -- also says Congress “should expeditiously consider legislation amending the MLR provisions.”
Even as the resolution will go to HHS, almost half of state regulators opposed the measure, with the most vocal ones stating the political gambit here by the NAIC would ruin its credibility in Washington.
The stated goal is to preserve consumer access to agents and brokers, who have reportedly seen commissions decrease under the MLR rules, which require 80% of health care dollars to be spent on health care. Agent commissions were not classified as care in the final Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Many NAIC regulators said they heard from producers whose commissions were cut by insurers in order to comply with the act. As a result, without a heftier commission structure, the producers said that they couldn’t provide the same level of care to clients as before.
More info... see
NAIC Narrowly Passes Resolution Urging HHS to Exempt Agent Commissions from PPACA Standard | LifeHealthPro
A deeply divided plenary body of the NAIC passed a contentious resolution backed by health insurers and agents but not consumer groups late Tuesday that urges the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take “whatever immediate actions are available” to release agents and brokers from medical loss ratio (MLR) strictures enacted under the 2010 health care reform act.
In a word, or several, the HHS should put the MLR enforcement requirement on ice, allow state adjustment requests or reclassify compensation to producers, the NAIC said.
The resolution, which passed 26-20 after a nearly 90-minute conference call -- and two prior unsuccessful, yet strong, attempts to either amend it to mitigate its demands or to send it back to committee -- also says Congress “should expeditiously consider legislation amending the MLR provisions.”
Even as the resolution will go to HHS, almost half of state regulators opposed the measure, with the most vocal ones stating the political gambit here by the NAIC would ruin its credibility in Washington.
The stated goal is to preserve consumer access to agents and brokers, who have reportedly seen commissions decrease under the MLR rules, which require 80% of health care dollars to be spent on health care. Agent commissions were not classified as care in the final Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Many NAIC regulators said they heard from producers whose commissions were cut by insurers in order to comply with the act. As a result, without a heftier commission structure, the producers said that they couldn’t provide the same level of care to clients as before.
More info... see
NAIC Narrowly Passes Resolution Urging HHS to Exempt Agent Commissions from PPACA Standard | LifeHealthPro
