The medical loss ratio (MLR) provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is "working the way we hoped it would," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W. Va., said Wednesday at a contentious Senate hearing on the MLR rules.
"The minimum medical loss ratio is a very simple idea, but it appears to have had a powerful, and very positive, effect on the health insurance market," Rockefeller said at the hearing, which was organized by the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee. Rockefeller chairs the committee.
Republicans used the hearing as a vehicle to challenge every aspect of PPACA.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the highest ranking Republican on the committee, said some experts believe the PPACA MLR rules could actually increase health insurance premiums and reduce the level of competition.
The MLR system puts decisions about health care activities in the hands of the government, rather than letting consumers and state insurance regulators make the decisions, Thune said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' MLR regulations may "undermine efforts by insurers to prevent fraud and abuse, including efforts to prevent the delivery of inappropriate or unnecessary services that may harm consumers," Thune said.
