The Indiana Department of Insurance is asking federal regulators to waive the new minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) requirement for insurers in the Indiana individual health insurance market.
Indiana Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson will be asking federal regulators to phase in higher MLR levels, rather than imposing a strict cut-off this year.
The Indiana department supports efforts to challenge the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) as a whole, Robertson says in a statement.
Recommended For You
"But, if it remains the law of the land, I must do everything in my power to protect Hoosiers and the health insurance market from its unintended consequences," Robertson says.
PPACA requires health insurers to spend 80% of individual health insurance policy revenue on health care and quality improvement efforts or else provide rebates.
The Indiana department has prepared a MLR rule effect analysis that shows that 5 carriers generate more than $10 million in annual individual health premium revenue in the state. Together, the carriers account for about 85% of the state's estimated $446 million in total annual individual health premium revenue.
The top 5 individual health carriers had estimated MLRs ranging from about 60% to about 77% in Indiana in 2010.
Robertson is proposing that Indiana set the minimum MLR level at 65% in 2011, 68.75% in 2012, 72.5% in 2013, 76.25% in 2014, and 80% in later years.
If PPACA takes effect as written, it will impose major changes, such as a requirement that insurers sell individual health insurance on a guaranteed-issue, mostly community-rated basis, on the individual health market in 2014, Robertson says.
"Relief through 2014 allows for pricing stability so that Hoosiers can budget for their premiums in what will undoubtedly be a volatile year," Robertson says.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
