New Administrative Office Key to Successful Health Reform Implementation

The Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (OCIIO) was created within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to implement and monitor many of the major reforms contained in the new health reform law. Among their many roles, the OCIIO is tasked with drafting rules which define when health insurance premium increases may be deemed “unreasonable”, managing the temporary high risk pool which will provide health insurance coverage to individuals who were previously uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions, and ensuring that insurance providers comply with the various consumer protections contained in ACA, such as the prohibition on insurance rescissions. This means that the OCIIO and its leaders, namely Jay Angoff, Steve Larsen, Karen Pollitz, and Harold Popper, will be largely responsible for the successful implementation of America’s health system reform.