Attorney General Neronha objects to proposed rate increases by health insurers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha submitted public comments to Rhode Island’s Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner in response to proposed health insurance rate increase proposals by various insurance companies that do business in Rhode Island.

The following excerpts highlight the Attorney General’s comments, found here.

Continued Rate Increases Have Not Delivered Better Health Care for Rhode Islanders

• “History has shown that significant rate increases year after year have not translated into improved access to and quality of care.  Insurers get what they need, while consumers, providers, and our healthcare system continue to suffer. We need systemic reform—not tinkering on the margins—and accordingly conclude that the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner should deny these requested increases.”
• “Year after year, as part of this rate review process, Rhode Islanders are asked to pay more and more for their health insurance. And yet, while insurers are granted increases in their premiums, we have yet to see gains in terms of access to care or improvement in our overall healthcare landscape.”

Rhode Island’s Most Significant Health Care Challenges are National Challenges

• “How health care is paid for, provided, and regulated in this country has resulted in an expensive system that is incapable of meeting demand or providing quality care to those in need.”
• “Not only is our high level of spend failing to translate into health benefits for the American people, but it is also placing an unsustainable economic burden on individuals and families… This is as unsustainable as it is unacceptable.”

We Need a Broader, Bolder, and More Holistic Approach

• “[P]erhaps most significantly in the context of this proceeding, there is currently no mechanism for OHIC to ensure that health care costs across the market are fairly and accurately distributed among all participants—whether insured in state regulated, employer-provided, or governmental plans—because of the fractured nature of our regulatory scheme.”
• “We need more meaningful reform. First, in the form of independent and robust government infrastructure that has both the authority and the mandate to look at the system as a whole. Second, we need bold healthcare payment reform that provides alternatives to traditional health insurance by consolidating larger groups’ purchasing power and risk pools while streamlining administrative costs. And while some of these reforms can and should happen at the State level, some, and perhaps the most promising paths to success, will require national leadership.”
• “The Attorney General is convinced that a new, holistic approach to paying for and delivering health care is necessary and finding that approach can no longer be delayed. Why must we continue to “preserve a central role for private insurers”? And why must accessing health care be one of the most complicated and expensive consumer transactions that people face? Investment in the health care system is warranted, but it cannot be accomplished through raising premiums on a small fraction of Rhode Islanders.”

Read the full comment letter here.