Checking out the status of consumer protections in your state

Is your state passing up a chance to stop insurance company abuses?  Is it ready to protect women by enforcing the new regulations in the health reform law?  And what is your state doing to keep consumers’ health care costs in check?

As health insurance commissioners gathered in Seattle to work out the nitty gritty process of putting the new health reform law into action, surveys of states and news reports have revealed huge variation in states’ capacity and commitment to making sure that consumers get the protections the Affordable Care Act was designed to give us.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners surveyed states to find out whether they have the necessary authority to enforce the consumer protection standards that will start to take effect next month.  The findings point to some important work that lies ahead for health care activists in the states.  (Click here to see a chart showing survey results for your state.)  This authority is critical for making sure that the people will get the benefits promised by the new law.  Some of the first protections that states will be responsible for enforcing are the requirement that insurers allow children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance policy and the prohibitions that prevent insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits and from taking away coverage from policyholders who get sick. Similar enforcement will be needed to bring an end to other industry abuses like insurers charging higher prices to women and denying coverage to women who have had breast cancer or cesarean section births.

But about half the states say they don’t have the authority they need to enforce these protections.  And states are responding to this problem in very different ways – Maryland passed a bill in the spring giving its insurance commissioner the authority to enforce consumer protections in the new federal law, while according to news reports officials in some other states have said that they will “rely on their powers of persuasion, the good will of insurers or general state laws that ban unfair or deceptive trade practices.”  Persuasion and good will don’t sound to us like very promising strategies for combating insurance industry greed.  Check out the status of enforcement authority in your state, and if there are gaps let policymakers know you expect more from them.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) just announced the grants it's making to help states conduct rate reviews that will keep insurers from jacking up health care costs for consumers with huge premium price increases.  If your state got a grant, congratulations – and look out for opportunities to provide public input on the development of your state’s rate review process.  But five states didn’t even apply for a grant -- Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wyoming.  Why are policymakers in those states passing up a chance to keep insurance companies from gouging consumers?  If you’re from one of the hold-out states, let your governor know what you think of the decision to let insurance industry greed continue unchecked!

If you want to learn more about how the Affordable Care Act can help bring insurance rates under control and protect you, your family and your community with stronger consumer protections, you can join an HHS-sponsored webchat on Wednesday August 18, at 1:10 P.M. EDT.  HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be joined by Jay Angoff, Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and Liz Fowler, Deputy Director for Policy of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight to discuss and answer your questions. Go to www.Healthcare.gov/live to find out how to join the conversation, and send your questions in advance to HealthCare@hhs.gov. They will also take questions live from twitter using handle @HealthCareGov.