The Alaska Division of Insurance is proposing to repeal the 80th percentile rule and is taking public comment now through March 6th.
According to the release from Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, the 80th percentile rule was enacted in 2004 and requires health insurers to pay out-of-network providers at the 80th percentile of current regional costs for a medical procedure. The rule allows providers to increase charges over time with little incentive to keep costs low or to join insurance networks.
Senator Jesse Bjorkman discussed the 80th percentile rule;
“80 percentile rule poses a problem because, it’s an artificial price floor. It allows doctors to charge way more than they would otherwise be able to charge in an open market because it guarantees a minimum price for what they are compensated from insurance companies. Alaska is the only state in the country with a regulation like this, we are unique in the protection that we provide these medical providers, and this has resulted in Alaska having the highest healthcare costs in the nation.”
The Alaska Division of Insurance is proposing to repeal the 80th percentile rule and is taking public comment. See the online notice at, https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx? id=209678
Public comments can be made in writing to:
Sarah Bailey, P.O. Box 110805,
Juneau, AK, 99811-0805
or by email to [email protected]
According to a recent study, the 80th percentile rule is responsible for 22.5% of the growth in Alaska Health-Care spending from 2005-2014. Government employers, private businesses, and self-insured Alaskans pay higher rates because of this rule.
Originally, the 80th percentile rule was designed to protect patients from surprise billing, where insurance companies pay a small part of out-of-network medical procedures leaving patients responsible for crushing balances.
Congress has protected consumers from surprise billing by passing the No Surprises Act, supporters state that the legislature can repeal Alaska’s 80th percentile regulation, as it is unnecessary and makes our health care more expensive.
