252142 Regulation as a Cost Containment Strategy in California

Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 10:50 AM

Dylan Roby, PhD , UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, CA
This presentation will focus on California's proposed insurance premium rate regulation legislation, AB 52 (Feuer), which will give authority to the state insurance commissioner and the director of the Department of Managed Health Care (California's two insurance regulators) to deny insurance rate increases requested by insurers. Currently, these regulators have authority to review rate changes sixty days prior to the effective date, but have no ability to deny them. The discussion will focus on the details of the rate regulation law and how they might be effective in reducing premium increases, and if rate regulation laws can be expected to help bend the cost curve. The session will use California as a case study in understanding and critiquing the role of rate regulation in systematic cost containment efforts in our health care system.

Learning Areas:
Biostatistics, economics
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Analyze rate regulation as a cost containment intervention that could be employed by states to reduce health care cost growth. Evaluate the provisions of the law and the potential limitations in bending the cost curve.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an Assistant Professor in the UCLA School of Public Health and Research Scientist in the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, I teach courses in health policy and conduct research on affordability of health insurance coverage in the employer-based and individually-purchased market.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.