The Federal Financial Forum

Editor’s Note ; The  following statement in Inside Health Policy suggests that the insurance industry does not agree with the above caption written by CRE.  (Re: a meeting of the insurance industry with the White House)

“Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger described Monday’s meeting as “productive” and general. Participants did not wade deep into the specifics of the health reform implementation effort or the regulations released Monday, she said, but agreed broadly on the need to work together to implement the new law effectively. She said all participants agreed in spirit to cooperatively tackle “underlying” health care costs.”

Editor’s Note:  See “Comments” section below as well as this post.

 CRE has been on record since the passage of the new healthcare legislation that Section 1003 of the statute is the most onerous and trumps all others in importance. To this end, CRE has developed this Interactive Public Docket dedicated  solely to  this topic.

CFPB Paper

Some members of the healthcare community  believe  that the regulatory structure in the new health act confers an expost quasi- price control authority to the HHS insurance office.  However it should be noted that although  Congress addressed federal  premium review it  also granted considerable discretion  to HHS  to move towards  a joint federal -state partnership (with an emphasis on state)  for the review of premiums  because of the historical presence of state regulation which is  strengthened by an agressive federal grant program to state regulators.  Executive Order 12886 requires HHS to make a finding of compelling need prior to moving toward the federal price control scenario.