Massachusetts OKs Controversial Insurance Rate Increases

NCHC Writers
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June 28, 2010

The Massachusetts Division of Insurance that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care could go ahead with an 8.6% rate increase that the state’s insurance commissioner had previously rejected as unjustified. In a statement issued to POLITICO Pulse, Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) denounced the decision, stating that, “[t]his decision cannot stand….[w]e cannot continue to let small businesses and working people be victimized by out of control insurance premium hikes. This fight is not over.”   With the federal government funding stringent rate review programs and some other states already instituting a prior-review system for health insurance plan rate increases, the decision in Massachusetts may be a bellwether for other states. There is growing concern about the extent to which premium rate increases are being driven by other health system market factors and may be upheld by review programs.

Click here for the agency decision, issued by the Division of Insurance.

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