Oregon health insurance consumers can begin weighing in on carriers’ proposed rates for 2015, a review process that aims to improve transparency and accountability in the health care system.

The Oregon Insurance Division has posted all rate proposals from insurance companies on its website.

The public can review all the documents and the justifications that the companies provide in their filings for increasing, decreasing or maintaining their premiums.

Essentially, these filings represent various assumptions that insurance companies make to predict next year’s claims, their costs and how much they need to charge in premiums to cover those costs.

And because this process is an inexact science, it needs to be scrutinized by a lot of people, said Lynn Quincy, associate director of health reform policy for Consumers Union. Quincy was among the rate review experts who participated in a national media conference call on the topic Thursday.

If the rate review process is used correctly, Quincy said, states could figure out where the waste is in health care and prevent it.

Oregon is recognized nationally as a state with one of the most transparent and aggressive rate review policies.

Jesse O’Brien, health care advocate for OSPIRG, said in the conference call that the practice has cut an estimated $155 million in waste and unjustified costs in Oregon premiums since 2010. Last year alone, he said, $69 million was cut from this year’s premiums.

OSPIRG contracts with the Oregon Insurance Division to represent the public in rate review hearings.

Among the red flags OSPIRG looks for are excessive increases in administrative costs, O’Brien said. Administrative costs should go up on par with the general inflation in the economy, but companies would try to raise it at the rate of medical inflation. Starting this year, Oregon’s regulators will look at what insurance companies are doing to keep health care costs down, in an effort to address the roots of medical inflation.

Starting June 30, the Oregon Insurance Division will host hearings on the rate requests in Salem. They will also be streamed online.

By Aug. 1, the insurance division will issue decisions to the companies and by mid-August, consumer-friendly documents explaining the decisions will be posted.

The proposed rates are for plans for small employers with fewer than 50 employees and individuals who purchase insurance on their own, rather than through their employer. These consumers make up about 10 percent of Oregonians.

syoo@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6673 or follow at Twitter.com/syoo.