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Health insurance companies may suffer a caustic blow by a currently popular ballot initiative that would expand the state's authority to regulate health insurance rates.
The ballot measure, set for November vote, would give Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones veto power over rate increases for about 6 million Californians who have individual and small business policies. Jones said the measure would prevent excessive rate hikes that could make the federally mandated health care coverage unaffordable.
Despite reservations from California's health insurance exchange, Covered California, Proposition 45 has won over nearly seven out of every 10 registered voter respondents surveyed in an independent poll conducted by the Field Research Corp.
Covered California to Oppose
Jones is a democrat who supports the Affordable Care Act and until recently had been on the same side of the fence as the state-run exchange. However, Covered California came out on the opposing side of the measure when officials decided at an exchange board meeting that they would take up a vote in September to formally oppose Proposition 45.
Covered California issued an...