The federal government will provide up to $1 million for each state that shows it will use the money to create and strengthen health insurance rate review processes.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also opening the grant application process to the District of Columbia.
HHS officials will be distributing $51 million in Health Insurance Premium Review Grants provided by the Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
The ACA premium review grant provision will provide $200 million in additional funding for premium review grants for 2011 through 2014.
“To receive a grant, a state must submit a plan for how it will use grant funds to develop or enhance its process of reviewing and approving, disapproving, or modifying health insurance premium requests,” officials say.