Jinkins: Health insurance rate hikes should be reviewed

By Rep. Laurie Jinkins

The national Affordable Care Act is a big step toward making health care more affordable and accessible, but it’s going to take time to implement. Our health care system is large and complex, so full reform can’t happen overnight. At the same time, I’m not very patient when I see people losing access to health care daily.

One thing we can do, right now, is let the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner continue to have the authority to review the rate changes proposed by insurers in Washington. Health insurance rates have skyrocketed over the past decade. Double-digit annual increases are not unheard of. The Insurance Commissioner currently has the right to review rate changes for individual plans, but that authority is set to expire at the end of this year.

Letting that happen is unacceptable—access and affordability will surely suffer. At a time when families are losing coverage at work because of the layoffs spawned by this recession, and when budget cuts are slashing many public-health programs, the need for affordable, accessible care has never been greater.

That’s why I’m sponsoring House Bill 1303, which would renew the Insurance Commissioner’s authority. This morning my bill was heard in the House Health Care & Wellness Committee.

To learn more about health insurance in Washington or how the national health care reform law might affect you, please click here to visit the Insurance Commissioner’s informative website.