Committee weighs changes to H.137 on Medicare supplement rate reviews

The Vermont House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development met Feb. 18 to consider proposed amendments to H.137 that would change how the Department of Financial Regulation reviews Medicare supplement insurance (commonly called Medigap) premium filings.

Legislative counsel Jen Carby described draft language that would (1) raise the extra-review trigger from a 3% requested composite average rate increase to 10%; (2) require insurers offering Medicare supplement policies with a Jan. 1 effective date to file rate requests by July 1 of the preceding year (six months before the effective date for other policies); (3) remove a statutorily required independent actuarial analysis tied to a provision in Title 33; and (4) make public hearings discretionary rather than mandatory in certain contested-review situations.

The change would also formalize notice to the…