Fearing that health insurance premiums may increase in the next few years, Senate Democrats laid a foundation for federal regulation of rates. After a hearing on the issue, the chairman of the Senate health committee, Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said he intended to move this year on legislation that would "provide an important check on unjustified premiums." Harkin praised a bill introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein that would give the secretary of health and human services the power to review premiums and block "any rate increase found to be unreasonable," the New York Times reports.
