U.S. Denies Florida’s Request to Ease Health Insurer Rules (Businessweek)

Florida became the fifth state to be denied a lower medical loss ratio, meaning that health insurers in the state must spend 80 percent of premiums on health care. Many states have contested this mandate, part of the President’s health care reform law, on the basis that it will disrupt the individual health insurance market and cause insurers to leave the state. But in Florida, no insurer has said it plans to leave and consumers are unlikely to lose coverage without a waiver, said Steve Larsen, director of the U.S. Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. The decision, he says, will ensure that Floridians “continue to get value for their premium dollars.”