President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met Thursday with members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to discuss health insurance rate increases and how to improve health insurance markets for all consumers.

The NAIC released highlights of that discussion:

State regulators stressed the importance of thorough and objective rate review, adding that premium increases must be actuarially justified without discriminating unfairly against any groups of policyholders.

"State regulators are best positioned to perform rate review and many of us do so with great success," said Jane L. Cline, NAIC President and West Virginia Insurance Commissioner. "Some, however, have not been given the authority by their state legislatures to review and deny unjustified increases. We believe that a federal backstop could help encourage these legislatures to provide that authority."

"It is absolutely critical that the state role in assuring the solvency of health plans and promoting competitive markets be preserved," said Sandy Praeger, Chair of the NAIC Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee and Kansas Insurance Commissioner. "Protecting consumers from high premiums remains a priority, but it is even more important to protect them from insolvency."

Vice-Chair of the NAIC Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee and Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario pressed insurers to support reforms that would reduce the fragmentation of health insurance pools. "One problem with premium increases is that rates go up a lot more for some people than for others," he said, noting that premiums in a reformed marketplace would be more stable for all Americans.