FINAL BILL REPORT

SB 6180

                              C 54 L 90

BYSenators West, Kreidler, Sellar, von Reichbauer, Johnson and Newhouse; by request of Washington Basic Health Plan

Providing confidentiality for certain basic health plan records and data.

Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care

House Committe on Health Care

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

The Basic Health Plan (BHP) is a pilot project providing a package of basic health care services to persons with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline.  Premiums are charged on a sliding scale with those below 100 percent of the federal poverty level paying only nominal premiums and those at 200 percent paying virtually the entire cost of coverage.

The plan contracts with managed health care systems and then enrolls eligible persons with the systems.  Negotiation of the contracts and review of their costs often require BHP staff to obtain records of individual medical treatment plans or actuarial formulas, statistics, or other proprietary information.  Several managed health care systems have expressed reluctance to supply such information for fear that state public disclosure laws might be invoked by competing health care systems.

SUMMARY:

Records obtained, reviewed by, or on file with the BHP containing information on individual medical treatments are exempt from public inspection and copying.  In addition, actuarial formulas, statistics, and assumptions submitted in support of a rate filing by a managed health care system, or submitted to the administrator upon his or her request, are exempt from public inspection and copying in order to preserve trade secrets or prevent unfair competition.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

     Senate   49    0

     House 95  0

EFFECTIVE:June 7, 1990