Obama administration officials never improperly interfered with the deliberations regarding standards it recommended for implementing the healthcare reform law, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) said in response to a congressional inquiry.

"While there were some instances when HHS officials expressed their interpretations of Congress' intent, particularly with respect to the definition of 'federal taxes' in the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) calculation, or provided suggestions regarding a starting point for defining 'activities that improve health care quality,' at no time did HHS officials state or imply that they would refuse to certify our recommendations if we did not follow their interpretation," the letter said.

The NAIC response was in the form of a letter to Republican members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The letter was dated Jan. 12. However,that more documents from the NAIC are forthcoming, and that the E & C Committee originally asked for a reply by Dec. 19th.