The Hill (7/12, Baker) "Healthwatch" blog reported that "state insurance regulators won't vote any time soon on whether to endorse a bill that would exempt insurance agents from part of healthcare reform. A task force of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently recommended endorsing the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), that would carve out agents' and brokers' commissions from a section of the new law that limits how much insurance companies can spend on administrative costs." However, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he would not ask the NAIC to vote on the issue. Health Care for America Now executive director Ethan Rome said the NAIC doesn't usually endorse federal laws, and that this issue is "too divisive."
CQ (7/13, Norman, Subscription Publication) reports, "The move was significant, because the bill is thought to have a better chance of progressing in Congress if it has the backing of the state regulators, who have been influential in advising the federal government's implementation of the federal health care law." CQ notes that "under the health care overhaul, insurance companies in the individual and small group market must spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care or quality improvements rather than administrative costs. ... Brokers say that means insurance companies are cutting their fees in order to trim administrative expenses."
