ABSTRACT
I want to comment on health insurance market reform by drawing upon my experience as insurance commissioner for the state of Maryland. Reform in the small-group and individual markets was implemented in Maryland in 1993 and is generally considered to be successful. However, given the growth in health care costs and health insurance premiums, there has been much pressure to make basic changes to reform and I will discuss this issue below. I want to begin my remarks by focusing on some specific features of reform and some basic data which I think support the notion that reform, at least in the small-group market, has been successful.
