Forty-five states are getting $1 million dollar grants to keep an eye on insurance premium increases. The Obama administration said the money is only the beginning in a $250 million, five-year program to help states limit rate increases. Premiums have at times jumped as much as 30 percent in one year, and many people are paying double what they were paying a decade ago, according to the Washington Post.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said some states are already regulating premiums well, others can do a better job. “Some states have full and rigorous rate review and [the right of] prior approval, so before a company raises a rate it goes through intense actuarial analysis. . . . In others the company doesn’t even have to file [with state authorities],” she told the Washington Post.

The states that already regulate premiums closely will be using the grant money differently than states who don’t. For example, Maryland already has a system in place for regulating insurance premiums. Officials there say they’ll use the $1 million to hire consultants to investigate what additional data needs to be requested from insurers. Some states say they plan to start requiring insurance companies to get pre-approval before any rate increases are implemented. Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart thanked the Obama administration for the money. “This important grant will help my department and I not only protect Delawareans from redundant rate increases, but will also allow me to pave a critical path toward modernizing our approaches in reaching the goal of affordable, accessible and first rate care for all,” Stewart told the Dover Post .

Starting in 2014 states will have the ability to punish insurance providers that raise rates unreasonably. They’ll be able to exclude those companies from subsidized state-run insurance programs. Five states opted out of the first round of grant money. They are Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wyoming.

While insurance companies argue that rate increases are a direct response to rising medical costs, Sebelius believes there needs to be better oversight of the industry. “Just having transparency . . . in itself is going to change the dynamics of what is happening in terms of the massive rate increases in this country,” Sebelius told the Washington Post.

It didn’t take long. Scam artists are already using the new health care overhaul to cheat and confuse Americans. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius warned of the scam artists this week. “Unfortunately, scam artists and criminals may be using the passage of these historic reforms as an opportunity to confuse and defraud the public,” Ms. Sebelius said in a letter to state insurance commissioners and attorneys general, according to the New York Times.

The scams to watch out for include people establishing toll-free phone numbers and door-to-door salesmen looking for buyers of fake insurance policies. The scammers are spreading lies about requirements in the new health bill, confusing Americans even more. Similar scams were seen during the H1N1 epidemic. Sebelius said that any rip-offs should be investigated and prosecuted. She believes senior citizens could be a big target for the crime.

It’s important to note that the insurance changes created under the new bill do not go into effect until 2014, unlike the crooks are saying. So if you are approached by someone selling an insurance product who makes claims about the new health care bill, make sure you do your research before becoming a victim.