Ricardo Lara (Credit: California Department of Insurance)
California's top insurance regulator says health insurers that have huge operating profits due to COVID-19 should provide partial premium funds.
Ricardo Lara, the state's insurance commissioner, has issued a notice asking issuers of major medical insurance and of specialty health insurance product to return unusual, COVID-19-related profits to the customers, through cash payments, premium credits or premium reductions.
The Affordable Care Act now prohibits major medical insurance issuers from imposing annual caps on coverage for essential health benefits, but issuers of other types of health insurance products, such as dental insurance, could provide the refunds by increase an enrollee's 2021 annual benefits maximum, according to the notice.
Resources
- A copy of the California notice is available here.
- An article about how Centene's chief executive officer sees the COVID-19 pandemic is available here.
Lara issued the notice earlier this week. He addressed it to all health insurers and "specialized health insurance companies" in California. He also addressed the notice to insurance agents, adjusters and producers, and to all other licensees and interested parties.
As the regulator of the largest insurance market in the nation, it is my duty to make sure consumers are protected and insurance companies remain solvent," Lara said in a comment included in a notice announcement. "I am doing all within my authority to strike that delicate balance but, right now, the scales are not balanced for consumers and businesses with health insurance. With this notice, I am expecting health insurance companies to help contribute back to the recovery of services by businesses and get money back into the hands of consumers when they need it the most."
Two health insurers have already provided refunds, and two others are working on refund efforts now, Lara said.
The Background
Lara is in a somewhat unusual position, because California, unlike many other states, splits regulation of health coverage between the California Department of Insurance and the California Department of Managed Health Care.
Lara is an elected official in his own right, not just a cabinet appointee. But his department oversees regulation of only about 5% of the enrollees in commercial and public managed plans, but bout 86% of the entities that help employers run self-insured plans, according to the California Health Care Foundation.
