Your State Government's Oversight of Health Insurance in Rhode Island
The Government of the state of Rhode Island is responsible to state resident for preparing and overseeing insurance regulations for the state. In meeting this obligation, the State Government generally tries to assure the rights of consumers within a business environment that supports strong economic growth. With regards to health insurance, the State Government addresses three separate groups: consumers, insurance providers, and licensed brokers.
The Government's primary method for assuring a productive health insurance environment involves the licensing and oversight of insurance companies and insurance brokers. For managing insurance providers, the Government prepares applicable standards for health benefits and insurance products and performs periodic financial statement reviews, to assure that taxation requirements are satisfied. For insurance brokers, the State Government sets professional and licensing requirements, performs license testing for brokers and issues approved licenses, oversees continuing education requirements, and performs collections on broker license fees. The State level Government is responsible for looking into health insurance fraud, especially as it affects consumers or when harmful to the local business environment.
For insurance consumers, the State Government offers public insurance information and consumer guidelines to help residents find their best insurance options. The State-level Government can also help consumers file disagreements and appeals with their health care insurance provider when a dispute arises over the insurance policy coverage. Lastly, the State Government performs the work associated with implementing the State version of the Federal Medicare program where subsidized health care benefits are offered to low income families, children who do not have health insurance, senior citizens, or the self-employed.