Insurance commissioner urges rethink on agent commissions

Commissioner says the previous administration had a “fundamental distrust” of agents

Insurance commissioner urges rethink on agent commissions

Life & Health

By Allie Sanchez

Georgia’s insurance commissioner is pleading the cause of insurance agents to the newly appointed federal health secretary and fellow Georgian Tom Price.

Commissioner Ralph Hudgens argued in a February letter that the current medical loss ratio (MLR) rule “has dramatically reduced the commissions insurance agents receive from the sale of health insurance products.”

The rule stipulates that insurers must spend 80% to 85% of premiums on medical care and efforts to improve the quality of care, or refund a portion of the premiums that exceed this limit, a report by the Albany Herald explained.

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“Neither the current law nor any reform effort will be successful unless a large number of healthy Georgians decide to sign up for coverage. However, the previous administration had a fundamental distrust of the role agents play in the orderly delivery of health insurance,” his letter was further quoted as saying.

However, Cindy Zeldin of Georgians for a Healthy Future, an organization that supports the Affordable Care Act, which provides for the MLR rule, said it “plays an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable for how they spend the premium dollars they collect from consumers.”


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