In a press release issued on February 25, 2011, California Insurance Commissioner Jones applauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after it announced the availability of roughly $200 million in new health insurance rate review grants.

Specific funding is available to support states in their efforts to stop excessive premium increases from being implemented. However, California would not be eligible for this portion of the grant because California law currently does not empower the Commissioner to reject excessive health insurance premium increases.

As discussed earlier in this blog, Commissioner Jones recently issued Guidance 1163:2 which allows the Commissioner to determine, based upon a list of factors, including a federal medical loss ratio, whether a health insurance premium rate increase is “unreasonable”.