Sen. Feinstein Speaks About Legislation to Amend Public Health Service Act

WASHINGTON, July 28 -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., issued the following statement, which was published in the Congressional Record on July 27, on legislation (S. 1667) to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide protections for consumers against excessive, unjustified, or unfairly discriminatory increases in premium rates:

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Rates Act. This critical health care reform bill would address the soaring cost of insurance premiums.

Many factors contribute to increasing premiums, from the increased prevalence of chronic disease to the consolidation of the insurance market. But no matter the root cause of premium hikes, it is important that rate increases are reviewed to ensure they are fair. When consumers see insurance premiums increase by double digits, it can add an additional burden on top of mortgage payments, childcare, and student loans. If rates are unreasonable, they should be blocked or modified.

The Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Rates Act would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to act on behalf of consumers to protect them against egregious increases in health insurance rates in States that do not take this action.

In California and several other States across the Nation, State regulators lack the authority to block or modify extreme health insurance rate increases. This legislation does not change any State's ability to take this action. Rather, it simply allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to help fill in the gaps in the health care regulatory space so consumers in all States would have adequate protections against this type of price gouging.

The Affordable Care Act slowed the growth of premium increases and improved the value of health insurance--including how much of premiums insurers must spend on actual medical care and ensuring rate increases are at least reviewed. These were good first steps, but more needs to be done. Far too many Americans are facing rate increases and full consumer protections must be in place to ensure that prices reflect true cost and not simply profits. Providing all Americans with affordable, quality healthcare is of the utmost importance and Congress ought to be building on the successes of the Affordable Care Act while making improvements where necessary.

This bill provides a straightforward, direct enforcement mechanism to ensure that insurers may not impose unreasonably high costs on consumers, by empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to step in when State regulators do not, or are unable to.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to protect Americans from unreasonable rate hikes and move toward real, commonsense health care solutions.