Grants for Insurance Monitoring

The Health and Human Services Department announced $46 million in grants to 45 states and the District of Columbia to apply a check on the increase in health insurance premiums. Part of the money, which came from the 2010 Affordable Care Act, will pay for upgrades to systems or for tools states "need to hold insurance companies accountable and put a halt to unreasonable premium increases," the White House Blog stated.

Technology will be a big part of what states will spend the money on, according to the HHS press release. Among the proposals states said they would spend the money on:

Develop and Upgrade Technology: All state grantees will develop and upgrade existing technology to streamline data sharing and put information in the hands of consumers more quickly.

For example, Florida said it would develop a better search tool to find premium increases that it posts online, according to a summary of what states plan to use the money for. Illinois said it would begin to post insurance premium filings and will begin to hold public hearings on proposed rate increases. As part of the meetings, the state will develop interactive applications for residents to use to navigate insurance premium information on a state website and translate web information into Spanish, Polish and Korean.

The $46 million in grants are the first round of awards that will ultimately total $250 million over five years "to help create a more level playing field by improving how states review proposed health insurance premium increases and holding insurance companies accountable for unjustified premiums increases," HHS said.