Blues Promote State Health Insurance Regulation

The Blues’ association and 1,300 other groups, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., are arguing that a national association plan system would siphon healthy employers away from traditional, state-regulated insurers; hurt employers with sick employees by shutting them out of the association plans and increasing the cost of traditional coverage; and increase the incentive for employers to discriminate against workers with health problems.

The new, anti-association plan report points out that 49 states now protect consumers by regulating health carriers’ ability to raise an employer’s rates when an employee gets sick; 44 states give employees access to independent, external review systems when carriers deny medical claims; and 50 states have laws and regulations that require carriers to pay providers promptly.

Going to an association-plan program could gut those state-imposed consumer protection mandates, the Blues and their allies argue.