Coming soon to an insurance market near you

A Wall Street Journal article reported on the Department of Health and Human Services' requirement that health insurance companies report details of each policy that they underwrite. A key element of this requirement is that insurance companies must report the details via a standardized form, which allows for more meaningful side-by-side comparisons. At last, increased transparency coming soon to the health insurance market (supposedly starting March 2011).

Having bought health insurance on the individual market, I look forward to the increased access to this information. Who doesn't like the idea? Not surprisingly, insurers were said to be "concerned about the potential cost and administrative burden of the new requirement." That has a familiar ring to it -- didn't mobile phone operators say the same thing when regulators required phone number portability?

With increased access to information like this and other tools in adjacent spaces, hopefully patients will be able to make better decisions about their health. That's what we're working towards.