APPhoto/JScottApplewhite:Sen. Jay Rockefeller
Seemingly borrowing a page from his House energy and commerce committee counterpart, Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the Senate commerce, science, and transportation committee, sent letters to fifteen insurance companies requesting financial information. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine what percentage of premium dollars go directly to providing health care and whether the companies disclose to current and prospective policy holders how they dispose of the premiums they receive. Examples of information sought by Mr. Rockefeller include: 1. dollar amounts of premiums received and dollar amounts paid out in each state that an insurance company operates; 2. profits, administrative expenses, and costs not directly tied to health care claims for each state that an insurance company operates in; 3. the number of covered lives for each state the company operates in; and 4. the company's nationwide medical loss ratio. Medical loss rations refer to the percentage of premium dollars spent by insurers that go directly to covering consumer health care payments. On August 19, 2009, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a similar letter to large health insurance companies also requesting information on how insurance companies used the premiums they received.
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