New York City Council hearing spotlights proposal for Office of Insurance Accountability amid soaring premiums

At a New York City Council hearing, City Council leaders and business and housing advocates urged creation of a new Office of Insurance Accountability to investigate and improve transparency around rapidly rising insurance costs that officials said are "absolutely too high" and are harming New Yorkers.

Speaker Menon opened the hearing by saying insurance costs are "absolutely too high and is crushing New Yorkers," and described legislation she introduced in February to create a first-in-the-nation office to "shine a light on pricing and drivers of costs" and to bring insurers, regulators and stakeholders together. She said the office would help consumers with unfair claim denials, intervene on claim delays, and publish data to help the city get better value for taxpayer dollars.

Council Member Linda Lee credited prevention and the city’s purchasing power as levers to lower costs and said greater transparency was needed in both health care and insurance. "We have a lot of buying power. So how do we use that to get…