Columnist: Insurers Fighting Oversight With ‘Bogus’ Facts
Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik writes that California's health insurance companies have "mustered bogus facts and figures" about legislation (AB 52) that would "prevent health insurance premium increases from going into effect without the prior approval of the commissioner of insurance or the director of the Department of Managed Health Care." For example, Hiltzik discusses how the California Association of Health Plans cited an Assembly committee analysis finding that it would cost $30 million annually to give regulators "prior-approval capability," but CAHP "doesn't mention that the expense would be covered by fees charged to the insurers."
- "Health Insurers Use Scare Tactics To Block Regulation of Rate Increases" (Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 6/1).