MA Health Insurance Development

The Patrick Administration suffered another blow to its health care cost restriction plans on June 24th when an appeals board ruled in favor of Harvard Pilgrim’s rate setting methodologies. The ruling against the Massachusetts insurance commissioner’s regulations that health insurers had to hold rates level will allow the insurer to charge actuarially sound rates.

While we’re not advocating higher health costs for anyone (our own health insurance rates increased over 20% this past April), there is a certain reality to the mathematics that’s hard to avoid.

Harvard Pilgrim is the second company to prevail. Neighborhood Health won its fight nearly a month ago. Companies have been operating a losses since the rules took effect, threatening their long term viability. Fallon Health out of Worcester is hoping its lawsuit will be settled soon, as they have watched critical financial ratios erode.

See the full story here.

Interestingly one of the voices of opposition to the Commissioner’s regs came out of the Division itself: Deputy Insurance Commissioner Robert Dynan, who runs the Division’s Financial Surveillance Unit, was against the regulations, famously emailing that mandated rate reductions could cause a “train wreck”.
See the Boston Herald article for more

Gordon Insurance provides insurance and risk solutions to businesses and families throughout Massachusetts, including group health insurance and other benefits plans.