Premium Review Forum

From: New York Times

By UWE E. REINHARDT

Uwe E. Reinhardt is an economics professor at Princeton. He has some financial interests in the health care field.

How does competition work in the health insurance market? Do more competitors in a market area — say, a state — invariably mean a better deal for the insured?

These questions are germane as regulators are busy implementing the Affordable Care Act, which imposes a series of stringent new regulations on the market for health insurance, particularly the market for small-group or individually purchased insurance.

From: Washington Examiner

L.A. Times

Obama should forbid premium hikes until the companies comply with pricing provisions of the new federal law.

Combining the Data Quality Act  (DQA)  with an Interactive Public Docket (IPD) will result in sound public policy free of bias.

 The Data Quality Act  establishes the analytical standards which, by statute, federal agencies must meet prior to issuing a federal report or a regulation… These standards include reproducibility, objectivity and transparency. The DQA allows the public to petition federal agencies to correct inaccurate information they have disseminated.

 An Interactive Public Docket  is a way the public can communicate to regulators on a 24/7 basis. Equally important the IPD is a method to enforce the DQA by providing a mechanism for garnering public support for DQA petitions filed by the public seeking a correction in  inaccurate information disseminated by a federal agency.