The Maryland Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a proposal to exceed the provisions of the federal health reform overhaul by creating a single-payer system in the state.

A consumer group is warning that “health insurance salespeople” are attempting to “rewrite the health reform law to guarantee broker income at the cost of increasing consumer premiums.”

Insurance industry trade groups praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a bill to repeal the 1099 provision of the health care reform.

U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson in Florida issued a stay of his prior court ruling that struck down key provisions of the federal health reform law passed last year.

The Maryland General Assembly has scheduled a March 9 public hearing on a bill that would take a far more aggressive approach toward health reform in the state than passed at the federal level last year.

Aetna is hoping its approach to insurance agent and broker commissions in response to changes under the federal health reform law will prove successful.

A third judge has ruled that the federal health reform law passed last year is constitutional, adding further confusion and complication to the legal status of the law.

The health insurance market, as federal health reform continues to be implemented, “continues to be rational,” the CEO of Aetna said recently.

Participants, mostly agents, in the latest IFAwebnews.com poll – to no one’s surprise – say federal health officials should exempt insurance agent and broker commissions from medical loss ratio calculations.

The U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, voted to cut all funding for federal health reform as part of its $61 billion federal budget trimming for this year.