Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch today said that the decision announced on Sept. 18 by Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) Christopher F. Koller to approve rate factors for Tufts Health Plan’s large and small group subscribers that are resulting in an average annual premium increase of 8.5 percent demonstrates “a troubling lack of transparency to which ratepayers are entitled.”

The decision by the OHIC was announced three days after Lynch wrote to Commissioner Koller to express significant concerns about the Tufts Health Plan’s large and small group filings and to urge that Koller conduct a full public hearing in order to determine how much of a rate hike, if any, was justified.

In his Sept. 15 letter to Commissioner Koller, Lynch also said that the dearth of information filed by Tufts (one page, half of which reads “N/A”) provided insufficient information for anyone to offer any meaningful comments on Tufts’ filings. Lynch said that without obtaining significantly more information than that provided by Tufts in its filings, the token public comment opportunity presented by the OHIC was without meaning.

“The commissioner’s approval of the Tufts rate factors without holding a full public hearing circumvents our office’s role of serving as the public advocate. Allowing for a public comment period is insufficient,” Lynch said. “Only a full public hearing permits the Attorney General’s office, through its Insurance Advocate, to complete a thorough actuarial analysis to scrutinize the filings and to challenge evidence supporting any proposed rate hikes.”

Lynch continued: “The fact that the OHIC approved a substantial premium increase is an affront to Tuft subscribers already struggling to keep pace with the mounting costs of health insurance. Runaway costs in the health insurance industry demand that any proposed premium increases be thoroughly analyzed and examined via a transparent and open process that embraces public input. A process devoid of transparency and openness, and without checks and balances, is cause for great concern now and going forward, and demonstrates that too much power is concentrated in the OHIC. The public — the ratepayers stuck with spiraling costs on every front — needs and deserves to have every effort expended to ensure that its rights are being protected and the integrity of the rate evaluation process upheld.”

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Please note: A PDF copy of AG Lynch’s Sept. 15 letter to OHIC Commissioner Koller is attached to this press release.

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