PROVIDENCE – Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch on Wednesday sharply rebuked R.I. Health Commissioner Christopher F. Koller for granting his approval to 8.5 percent insurance premium increases that Tufts Health Plan will implement next year.
Koller’s approval of the rate hike demonstrated “a troubling lack of transparency to which ratepayers are entitled,” the attorney general said in a statement.
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The rate change is expected to raise annual premiums for large- and small-group subscribers by an average of 8.5 percent next year. The Massachusetts-based insurer entered the Rhode Island market this year.
Koller approved the increase on Sept. 18, after rejecting Tufts’ initial request for a larger increase of 9.7 percent.
“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,” Lynch said in a statement. “Allowing for a public comment period is insufficient. 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.”
And in a Sept. 15 letter to Koller, Lynch complained that Tufts had submitted insufficient information that provided only a partial picture of the filing. The attorney general said the entire filing consisted on one page, half of which read “N/A.”
“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,” Lynch said. “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.”
