Fed up with rising health insurance rates, a state lawmaker is calling for more independence between insurers and the state regulator appointed to oversee them.
State Rep. Andy Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, who is chairman of the education committee, has proposed a bill that would make the state insurance commissioner a statewide elected official, much like Connecticut’s other constitutional officers.
Currently, the commissioner is appointed by the governor.
Fleischmann said the bill is in response to rapidly rising insurance rates and a lack of transparency by the Connecticut Insurance Department, which has approved many double-digit rate increases in recent years without public hearings.
“Connecticut’s residents are entitled to an insurance commissioner who will clearly represent them and their interests-not the insurance industry,” said Fleischmann. “People are paying higher and higher premiums, the big insurance companies are recording record profits, and our insurance commissioners-who have had the power to reject proposed premium increases-have rarely done a thing.”
Fleischmann’s proposal is similar to a plan pitched last year by Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, who also called for the state insurance commissioner be an elected position.
Under Fleischmann’s proposal, the insurance commissioner would be elected statewide beginning in 2014, along with the governor, lieutenant governor and other statewide officials.
Many other states already elect their insurance commissioners, including California and Washington, Fleischmann said.
“We saw our most recent Commissioner approve a 47 percent increase for an Anthem plan,” said Fleischmann. “Right now the commissioner does not have to answer to anyone-not to the consumers and small business owners who are forced to pay these outrageous premiums or go without health insurance. We would see a lot more transparency and sensible decision making if, every four years, the commissioner was held accountable by Connecticut’s citizens.”
Connecticut’s most recent insurance commissioner was Thomas Sullivan, who resigned shortly after the November election, amid a wave of criticism concerning his approval of double-digit rate hikes.
Sullivan told HBJ that his resignation had nothing to do with the criticism. He recently started a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hartford, where he is a principal in the firm’s national financial services regulatory practice.
