FAIR Act

In our first Straight Talk email, we addressed the minimal impact of federal health care reforms on increasing insurance premiums in Colorado (representing under 5% of rate increases).

But what does the federal law do – in concert with a recent state law – to help rein in those increases? One of several tools provided by the new law is "rate review."

What do new federal health care reforms and existing state law do to help rein in health insurance premium increases?

One tool is the use of "rate review." Prior to 2008, Colorado was a "file and use" state. File and use required insurance companies to file rates and rating data with the Divivison of Insurance; rates could be implemented before they were reviewed, but if they were determined to be unjustified, corrective action could be imposed.