By Cara Baruzzi, Register Business Editor
cbaruzzi@newhavenregister.com

HARTFORD — Connecticut has received a $1 million federal grant to help state officials improve oversight of health insurance premiums and fight “unreasonable” rate increases for consumers, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services said Monday.

The money is part of the federal Affordable Care Act, which is disbursing a total of $250 million to states in “health insurance premium review grants” over the next five years. The legislation is intended to help states improve the way they hold insurance companies accountable for premium increases.

Health insurance premiums are expected to decrease between 14 and 20 percent starting in 2014 because of the legislation, due to several factors such as increased competition, lower overhead costs for insurers and better risk pooling, according to Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Between now and then, the department will continue to work with states to ensure consumers are not overpaying for insurance, she said.

In Connecticut, the grant will be used to improve the state’s process for reviewing premium increases by developing new premium filing requirements for insurers and implementing new software and methods to review premiums.

Also, the state will start posting premium filings online and provide consumers with the opportunity to comment. The grant also will allow Connecticut to upgrade the way it collects data.

“This grant will help us accomplish our mission by providing increased transparency to Connecticut consumers, (and) additional tools and resources to increase the rigor of our current rate review process, to allow us to uphold the federal health care review laws put in place by (the federal act) earlier this year,” said Thomas Sullivan, commissioner of the state Insurance Department.

“The majority of the grant resources will go toward increased transparency, and allowing consumers to be able to easily view and comment on rate filings,” he said.

In addition to the grant money it gives to states, the Affordable Care Act has provisions that: allow the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to review any justifications provided for seemingly unreasonable premium increases, generally require insurers to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care services and give states the right to exclude health plans that show a pattern of excessive or unjustified premium increases.

“Any increase for Connecticut consumers must be fair and justified,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a statement. “These funds will help us ensure that insurance companies’ requests for premium increases are necessary and that consumers have access to all the details of that request and how an increase will affect them.” Continued...

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Call Cara Baruzzi at 203-789-5748.

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