... At Their Fall 2010 National Meeting at the overly posh Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. Other events at the third day of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Fall 2010 National Meeting are reported on Insurance Claims and Issues Web Log, Tuesday, October 19, 2010.
Access to the Commissioners' meeting rooms is controlled. Today the State Insurance Commissioners assembled in executive session in their Executive Committee to consider what the Minimum Loss Ratio, sometimes called the Medical Loss Ratio, should be under the new Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act.
In other words, the Commissioners were going to recommend what percentage of each Premium Dollar for Healthcare taken in by Health Insurance Companies would be required to be spent on Healthcare instead of on their overhead such as payments to their Directors and Officers.
The Commissioners' Executive Committee deliberated behind closed doors. The public was not allowed in, although it is the public that will pay the Premium Dollars and receive a percentage back that is actually used to pay for their Healthcare. Reporters in the "News Media" were not allowed in because they would report who said what, and who was in favor of say paying Healthcare Insurance Company Board Members as a part of so-called "Medical Care Costs".
Hmmm. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is an organization composed of State and Territorial and District Insurance Commissioners. Their offices are funded by State and Territorial and District Funds. Funds for States and Territories and Districts come from Taxpayers, in basic and simple terms. Also in basic and straight-forward terms, Taxpayers are the Public.
So how is it possible to bar the Public access to meetings which decide the Healthcare the Public will receive? To rephrase slightly something Ronald Reagan famously said, "Mr. and Ms. Insurance Commissioners, I'm paying for this Healthcare!"
The author is Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Health, Life and Disability Insurance of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association.
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