LA Times reports:
Healthcare overhaul legislation moving through the Senate Finance Committee would put crucial rule-making authority in the hands of a private association of state insurance commissioners that consumer advocates fear is too closely tied to the industry.
The National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners currently writes model laws and regulations that individual states are free to accept or discard. Under the bill by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), it would craft a model rule governing ‘health insurance rating, issuance and marketing requirements’ that would become ‘the new federal minimum standard without any further congressional action.’ States would be permitted to deviate from the standards only by appealing to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In effect, the bill would allow the group to write many of the new rules on issuing and marketing insurance to millions of uninsured Americans who would be required to purchase policies.
‘The NAIC is clearly an organization that is dominated by the insurance industry,’ said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a former state insurance commissioner .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-healthcare-insurance28-2009sep28,0,173681.storyThe Baucus bill has no public option, but has strong backing from the private insurance industry which is pretty much writing the rules of the game for themselves. I'm afraid the Baucus bill is going to be the dominant bill in HELP-Finance conference to please the 'moderates' unless progressives really make a push to put their stamp on the final bill.
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