The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) kicked off its summer meeting in Boston on July 7 with an overview of health insurance reform. Representative George Keiser (ND) moderated a panel of experts including John Bertko, a visiting scholar from the Brookings Institution and Sandy Praeger, insurance commissioner from Kansas.

For PIA, a key issue will be how agent commissions will be calculated under Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) definitions. Senator Ralph Hudgins (GA) voiced his concern about agent commissions. He said he is very concerned about this issue and is hearing from the agent community in his state. Commissioner Praeger answered that the NAIC has an ad hoc committee to work on this issue, but nothing has been resolved. PIA National is participating in these discussions at the request of the NAIC.

Mr. Bertko from the Brookings Institution sounded a discordant note and sparked a spirited debate by predicting that the agents’ role in health insurance would be greatly diminished after 2014. Several state legislators who are also independent insurance agents argued that perhaps there will be a greater role for agents rather than a lesser one, because they will be needed to navigate the increased bureaucracy.

Marsha Mills, a senior advisor from HHS, said they have many new employees and they view the states as key partners. Jay Angoff, Director of the the HHS Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, was a former commissioner and many employees at HHS are former commissioners or deputies. HHS has rolled out their new website www.healthcare.gov and are presenting this as an excellent tool for consumers.

July 13, 2010