The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) will study ways for states to gain more authority over setting health insurance rates in 2010. The comment came from Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, chairwoman of the NAIC's Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee. Praeger along with NAIC President Jane L. Cline and NAIC Secretary-Treasurer Kim Holland addressed the issue following a bipartisan summit on health care led by President Barack Obama in which he proposed that the federal government be given the authority to reject rate increases by health insurers.

The NAIC remains opposed to the suggestion of strong federal oversight of state regulators' rate-setting, but is open to a "federal backstop to assist those regulators who currently do not have full rate review authority under state law and ensure that proposed rate increases are truly justified and receive a thorough review before they become effective," according to an NAIC statement. Commissioners continue to oppose Congressional Republicans' proposals to allow the sale of health insurance policies across state lines. Such proposals are intended "to get around state mandates," said Praeger, an elected Republican.

March 4, 2010