|
|
For Immediate Release
August 13, 2010 at 12:00
PM EDT
| |
|
For more information,
contact:
Greg White
| | |
| Maine Consumer Health Advocate
Attends, Addresses National Private Insurance
Conference in
Seattle
Joe Ditré, One of the Leading
Voices on Consumer Health Care Issues in the US, Will
Speak at the Four Day Conference in
Seattle. |
(Augusta) Joe
Ditré, founding Executive Director of Consumers for
Affordable Health Care, attended and will speak on Sat.,
August 14th at the 2010 National Association of
Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Summer Meeting.
President Barack Obama will be addressing the
Conference, which will be held from August 11 -17, on
the Conference's final day.
In
March, Mr. Ditré was appointed as one of 11 new
consumer advocates nationwide to represent consumers
before the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners (NAIC). In total, there are
now 18 funded consumer representatives of NAIC and
10 unfunded members. Funded consumer
representatives are provided with small stipends to
cover travel and lodging to make it affordable for
them to attend NAIC meetings such as this one.
Mr. Ditré is focusing his work on those
committees and subcommittees that are responsible for
implementing major portions of the Affordable Care Act.
He said, "There were 1700 industry representatives and
17 consumer representatives at the Denver, CO meeting of
the NAIC earlier this year. The NAIC commissioners are
making critical decisions that affect your health
insurance - everything from what it covers to how much
of your dollar must be spent on your actual medical
care. This is where the action is. It is an honor to
have been appointed to represent the interests of
consumers to insurance commissioners who hear from
insurance companies all the time. All of the consumer
reps are working hard to get better value for
policyholders."
"This is an exciting time
to be involved in the NAIC," said Ditré, "because most
of the Consumer Representatives are now interested in
health insurance compared to previous years. The
Consumer Representatives recently released a report
called "PPACA Implementation: Consumer
Recommendations to Lawmakers and Regulators (May
2010)." Mr. Ditré wrote the first section of the
report on Insurance Rate Review process and
procedures.
He drafted comments to two key federal
rules that will determine how regulators determine what
constitutes an "unreasonable rate" and how information
about unreasonable rates are translated to
policyholders. In addition, he commented on another key
rule about how much insurance companies have to pay in
actual medical care out of policyholder premiums, called
the Medical Loss Ratio. Both sets of comments were
submitted to Secretary Sebelius at the federal Dept. of
Health and Human Services.
In his remarks at the summer meeting, Mr. Ditré
spoke of the need for increased transparency in the
health insurance market and identified ways that state
insurance departments could assist consumers in
understanding the information made available to
them. In particular, he suggested that insurers
hold rate hearings and rulemaking proceedings at times
and locations for policyholders to be able to attend and
speak. Mr. Ditré also advocated that insurers and
insurance departments publicly post all materials,
rates, filings, and other information about their rates
and well in advance of a rate hearing.
In his closing, Mr. Ditré recommended that insurance
departments use their state's rate review grants from
the federal government to provide consumers with
assistance in interpreting the complex information about
costs, benefits, and rate filings so they can get better
value for their health premium dollar and can fully and
meaningfully participate in rate
hearings.
"As I said in March, it is a
great honor to have been appointed by a panel of
Insurance Commissioners and Superintendents from among
nationwide applicants. Since my appointment nearly
six months ago, I have been incorporating the voices of
Maine people in some meaningful way to the
discussions. The NAIC consumer representatives
have played a large role, and will continue to do so
over the next several years, in discussing the
implementation and key regulations of the new Affordable
Care Act," said Ditré.
"National
reforms will accelerate the need to work on
implementation with our Insurance Superintendent, Mila
Kofman, the Chairs and members of the Insurance and
Financial Services Committee of the Maine Legislature,
the Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance, and
the Dirigo Health Agency. As members on the frontline of
advocacy with the insurance commissioners, we will work
to ensure that national reforms benefit and protect
consumers," says Joe. "I think we're well
positioned in Maine, given the consumer protections the
State has made over the years. We will continue to
advocate for access to quality, affordable health care
coverage for consumers and ensure that the rights
currently enjoyed by Mainers are enhanced by the new
law, and not hampered by it."
Since Consumers for Affordable Health
Care's founding in 1988, Joe Ditré has directed and
managed the general operations of CAHC and has provided
policy and legal analysis. He has been appointed to
numerous commissions and task forces by both Democratic
and Republican Governors. Consumers for Affordable
Health Care is one of only a handful of consumer health
organizations in the United States that offers a
toll-free Consumer HelpLine service (1-800-965-7476), a
statewide Outreach and Education program, a Health Law
Program, and a full research and policy reporting
program.
One of the Projects that CAHC
operates is called the Insurance Transparency and
Affordability Project (ITAP). ITAP has advocated for
strong transparency laws in Maine and most recently
supported the passage of Public Laws 2009, Chapters 350
(public reporting of health care costs and quality by
individual provider) and 439 (making health insurance
rate filings public and public posting of insurance
certificates of coverage).
Mr. Ditré has authored numerous publications on
health insurance reform, cost containment programs and
policies, and health care spending. He is
co-author of False Security: Health Insurance That
Doesn't Pay When You Need It Most (2010), PPACA
Implementation: Consumer Recommendations for Regulators
and Lawmakers (2010), At Risk: Small Business Health
Insurance in Maine (1999) along with Christopher St.
John and Lisa Pohlman of the Maine Center for Economic
Policy and has co-authored the following three reports
with Hilary Schneider of CAHC: Off the Charts:
Unsustainable Hospital Cost Growth in Maine (2004),
When, Where and How Much: Improving Maine's Certificate
of Need Program (2004), and Briefing Book to the Guiding
Principles for Health Reform (2005).
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
Law School in 1983 where he was awarded the Dean
Jefferson B. Fordham Human Rights Award by the Penn Law
School Faculty. Joe lives in Manchester, Maine
with his wife, Dyan, and two daughters, Maggie and
Rosie.
Consumers for Affordable Health Care is a
non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been
helping Maine people get quality, affordable health care
for more than 20 years. If you have any public or
private insurance questions please call our toll free
consumer HelpLine at 1-800-965-7476.
# #
# | |
| |
| |
