OIR Discusses Status of Affordable Care Act Implementation
After the Affordable Care Act became law, Florida officials did not take steps to immediately implement it. Due in part to budget considerations and to hopes that it might be repealed or revised after the fall 2012 election cycle, Florida policymakers deferred preparations for the new law. Now the legislature has committees devoted to the task.
The Office of Insurance Regulation informed a House committee on Friday that the Affordable Care Act involves a host of issues for which regulatory guidance is needed. Additionally, the OIR is bracing for a heavy volume of filings as health insurers seek to comply. The anticipated volume of filings raises questions about whether the OIR has enough staff to review the filings. In the property and casualty arena, substantial legislative changes led to such a large number of filings that the OIR fell behind in reviews and has had difficulty catching up. The OIR has attempted to alleviate the backlog in the P&C area by allowing insurers to certify filings for use without going through the full review process. The same approach could be used to address Affordable Care Act filings, but some legislators have expressed concern about reduced regulatory oversight in an area as sensitive as health insurance.
Democratic legislators expressed frustration because they believe Republican leaders essentially ignored the law for two years while the state could have been preparing. “We’re reacting now at the eleventh hour, essentially,” said Rep. Dwight Dudley, a St. Petersburg Democrat who serves on the select committee. “We’re flat-footed and completely unprepared to implement the law as it is.”
Wences Troncoso, the Office of Insurance Regulation’s newly named Deputy Commissioner for life and health insurance, told the committee that the policy direction conveyed to the OIR over the last couple of years was not to work toward implementing the law. This brings the issue full circle– absent legislative direction on key issues, the OIR cannot unilaterally take steps to implement the law.
Belinda Miller, the OIR’s general counsel, also pointed out that the Office of Insurance Regulation is not exactly flat-footed in this case. She mentioned, for example, that the OIR has done the work necessary to identify conflicts between the state laws it is charged with implementing and the requirements of the new federal law. She also said that the OIR drafted legislative proposals in 2010 but they didn’t go anywhere.