MVP Health Insurance Co. has filed suit against Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board, alleging the board overstepped its power when it denied the insurance company's premium rate increase, according to VTDigger.
Under Vermont law, the Green Mountain Care Board is in charge of controlling the rate of growth in healthcare costs. Since 2011, the board has regulated hospital budgets and the prices payers charge their members.
In September, MVP Health Insurance filed documents requesting to increase premiums by an average of 26.9 percent for about 1,200 customers through Agriservices, a farming association that pays MVP to administer a health plan. In November, after finding a mathematical error, MVP asked to raise prices an average of 27.4 percent, according to the report.
Green Mountain Care Board's actuaries reviewed the insurer's request and suggested the board approve an average increase of 25.9 percent.
In a suit that has made its way to the Vermont Supreme Court, MVP Health Insurance claims the board denied its rate increase because it was mad at the insurer for submitting its original price increase late in the year. The company has asked the state's high court to overturn the denial.
Green Mountain Care Board claims it denied the increase because the requested price hike would be "unfair, unjust and inequitable to the plan members," according to the report.
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