States resist HHS premium control

Politico reports:

Some state insurance commissioners are pushing back against a renewed effort on the Hill to centralize the authority of health insurance premium rate reviews under the secretary of Health and Human Services.

The Health Insurance Rate Authority Act, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on March 4, would grant the HHS secretary the power to approve, deny or modify premium rate increases in states — 23 at the moment — where insurance commissioners do not already have that regulatory authority. Feinstein has crusaded for this cause since the omission of an amendment in the recently signed health care law.