Christmas Comes Early? Health Insurers Could Be Returning Money to Floridians

Could it actually be some Christmas cheer on the horizon in Florida?  Maybe, after the Department of Health and Human Services ruled that Florida health insurers will have to comply with the new federal law that requires them to spend 80 cents of every health insurance premium dollar on direct patient care. Health insurers who haven’t been following that rule will have to return money to health insurance customers, probably in the form of rebates.

Health insurance premium information isn’t in yet for 2011, but if health insurers had had to follow the rule last year (2010), they would have had to return about $60 million in rebates over the next three years. Members of the state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida would not benefit from rebates. HHS has already ruled it in compliance with the 80% rule, but members of the state’s two other largest health insurers United Healthcare and Humana who have individual health insurance policies would likely benefit from the rebates.

More than 842,000 Floridians were covered by the individual health insurance market in 2010, according to state data. The state’s health insurers currently spend about 65 cents of every health insurance premium dollar on direct patient care.

Do you live in Florida? Tell us about it!

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