Larsen: Don't Blame Medical Loss Ratios for Producer Compensation Cuts

An Obama administration official rejected a contention that the current medical loss ratio regulation is a punishment to agents and brokers at a congressional hearing.

Health insurance companies may be taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act and MLR rules to do what they wanted to do anyway: cut producer commissions, said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

Uninsurable? Health Insurance Sort Publishes Exclusive Report on the Progress of the PCIP Plan

EINPresswire.com/ Health Insurance Sort examines the progress of the $5 billion federal plan created to assist Americans with pre-existing conditions. The exclusive report: 'Uninsurable: A Notion of the Past' provides an evaluation of the program's success with contributions from representatives of the National Health Council, the National Association of Health Underwriters and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Up close: Mel Schlesinger

As president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, self-employed agent Mel Schlesinger has the challenge of guiding the trade group for health insurance agents during what is sure to be a transitional time.

The health care reform act, formally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), has the 20,000 member agents of NAHU looking at broad changes to health insurance that can drastically change the way people shop for insurance, and how agents are compensated for assisting them.

Calif. passes breast density bill

The California State Legislature passed a bill last Friday requiring doctors to inform women if they have dense breasts after a mammogram, making California the second state this summer and the third state so far to have passed a so-called breast density law.

The bill, SB 791, passed the state Senate 35-1, and is now going before Gov. Jerry Brown to get signed.

Unusual coalition boosts health overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — Betting that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul withstands lawsuits and a Republican repeal drive, an unusual alliance of industry, health care and consumer groups Wednesday launched a campaign to lay the groundwork for signing up uninsured Americans.

Called Enroll America, the group started its work a day after the Census Bureau reported that nearly 50 million people had no health insurance in 2010, the highest number since the statistic was first collected more than two decades ago.

A upcoming congressional hearing will address a proposal to amend the Affordable Care Act to boost agent and broker compensation, a top legislative priority for producer groups. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health has scheduled a Sept. 15 hearing on regulations under the Affordable Care Act. Speakers will include National Association of Health Underwriters Chief Executive Officer Janet Trautwein and Steve Larsen, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and others hope to see passage of HR 1206, a bill that would exclude producer compensation from medical loss ratio calculations. Under the Affordable Care Act, such compensation is treated as a nonmedical expense.

Oklahoma Seeks Waiver on Health Care Insurance MLR Requirement

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak is seeking a waiver on a major provision of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Doak requested an adjustment from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to new minimum Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requirements for individual health insurance policies issued in Oklahoma from 2011 through the year 2014.

Brokers 'devastated' by reform rule

The decision last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services not to exclude health insurance brokers commissions from a provision in the 2010 health reform law has been “devastating to brokers,” broker advocate Janet Trautwein said during an August speech in Fishers, and there are signs that Congress will act to reverse the policy.

The health law caps health insurer's profits and overhead expenses at 20 percent of premiums (and only 15 percent for large employers).