Dear Mr. Payne, Thank you for contacting me regarding health insurance costs. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue and sincerely regret the delayed response. As you know, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) into law on March 23, 2010. With this historic act, which I was privileged to witness in the White House East Room, our nation affirmed that health care should be available to every American, not just a privilege for those who can afford it. This legislation was originally approved by the Senate, with my support, on December 24, 2009. This new law regulates insurance companies to protect consumers, ensures that 94 percent of Americans have health coverage, including more than 810,000 Washingtonians currently without coverage, improves Medicare benefits, and reduces the federal deficit by over $200 billion over the next ten years. You may be interested to learn that the Affordable Care Act contained provisions that will protect American consumers from unjustified premium increases. Over the past 10 years, health insurance premiums increased 123 percent. To increase transparency, the Affordable Care Act allows states to review unreasonable premium rate increases. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided $250 million in grants to 46 states, including Washington, to conduct rate reviews and ensure that customers receive value for their premium dollars. Under the new law, health insurers are required to publicly justify any premium rate increases of 10 percent or more. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act includes a provision requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care services and quality improvement activities, instead of administrative expenses. If insurance companies fail to meet this standard, then they must provide policy holders with a rebate. By 2012, under this rule, insurance companies had provided Americans with rebates totaling $1.1 billion. This requirement ensures that individuals receive good value and quality health care for their health insurance premium dollars. The Affordable Care Act also empowers states to exclude health plans that show a pattern of excessive or unjustified premium increases from participating in the state the new health insurance exchanges, which will be available in every state starting January 1, 2014. The exchanges will provide a structured marketplace in which individuals can choose from an array of affordable and comprehensive health insurance plans. Although final premium rates will not be available until the exchanges are operating, insurers in some states, including Washington, have filed preliminary rates for 2014. Rates will vary by plan, state, and consumer age, but these filings indicate that premiums for many consumers will be less than current rates. These rate changes only apply to individuals seeking coverage on the health insurance exchanges, not those covered by their employers. In addition, some individuals will be eligible for tax credits to help defray premium costs for health insurance purchased through an exchange. Finally, the Obama Administration has set up a new online tool to help consumers navigate the insurance industry, and find health insurance plans that work for their families. If you are considering changing your health insurance plan, I encourage you to us this tool, at healthcare.gov. This online tool will allow you to enter personalized information about where you live and what type of plan you are looking for, so that you can easily compare all the public and private insurance options in Washington State, including pricing and benefit information about various plans. Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance. Sincerely, Maria Cantwell United States Senator
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:20:55 +0000
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