At the August 6 Florida Cabinet meeting, four proposed OIR rules were approved for final publication by the Financial Services Commission, including the ACA Premium Impact Notice required by SB1842 and the Medicare Supplement rule containing procedures for updates to trend tables, which deletes the annual trend tables from the rule text and places them on the OIR website for annual updates.
Agriculture Commissioner Putnam asked about the OIR’s statement that rates will go up 30% due to the ACA. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty replied that the Office reviewed rates both on and off of the Exchange and concluded that rates in the individual market could rise by 30 – 40% on average while rates in the small group market could rise by 15 – 20% on average. Putnam commented that he had seen that two large insurers had pulled out of the Georgia exchange and wondered if that would be the case in Florida. McCarty clarified that both Georgia and Florida would be participating in the federal exchange as opposed to operating their own exchanges, and that he was not aware that any large Florida insurers would not be offering plans on the federal exchange.
Other rules adopted included the NAIC annual & quarterly statement forms and handbook updates.