Passed by the House March 4, 2006 Yeas 96   FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate March 1, 2006 Yeas 46   BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2500 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. RICHARD NAFZIGER ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved March 17, 2006. CHRISTINE GREGOIRE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | March 17, 2006 - 11:17 a.m. Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2006 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 1/31/2006.
AN ACT Relating to health carrier information; adding a new section to chapter 48.43 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 Health carriers are currently required to
file statutory annual statements with the office of the insurance
commissioner or the national association of insurance commissioners.
These annual statements are extensive and contain a significant amount
of financial information. These annual statements are public
documents; however, such financial information can be complex and
difficult to read and understand.
It is the intent of this act to provide a method of reporting
certain financial data in a user friendly format. It is also the
intent of this act, to the extent possible, to utilize existing
information from the annual statements when developing the additional
or supplemental data statement required by this act, and to the extent
possible, avoid imposing additional reporting requirements that have
the unintended consequences of unduly increasing administrative costs
for carriers required to file such information.
NEW SECTION. Sec.2 A new section is added to chapter 48.43 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Each health carrier offering a health benefit plan shall submit
to the commissioner on or before April 1st of each year as part of the
additional data statement or as a supplemental data statement the
following information:
(a) The following information for the preceding year that is
derived from the carrier's annual statement, including the exhibit of
premiums, enrollments, and utilization for its Washington business, and
the additional data to the annual statement. The information must be
shown for five categories, total, individual contracts, small group
contracts, and large group contracts (excluding government contracts),
and government contracts:
(i) The total number of members;
(ii) The total amount of revenue;
(iii) The total amount of hospital and medical payments;
(iv) The medical loss ratio, that is computed by dividing the total
amount of hospital and medical payments by the total amount of
revenues;
(v) The average amount of premiums per member per month; and
(vi) The percentage change in the average premium per member per
month, measured from the previous year; and
(b) The following aggregate financial information for the preceding
year that is derived from the carrier's annual statement:
(i) The total amount of claim adjustment expenses;
(ii) The total amount of general administrative expenses, including
identification of the five largest nonmedical administrative expenses
and the assessment against the carrier for the Washington state health
insurance pool;
(iii) The total amount of the reserves maintained for unpaid
claims;
(iv) The total net underwriting gain or loss;
(v) The carrier's net income after taxes;
(vi) Dividends to stockholders;
(vii) The net change in capital and surplus from the prior year;
and
(viii) The total amount of the capital and surplus.
(2) A carrier shall electronically submit the information described
in subsection (1) of this section in a format and according to
instructions prescribed by the commissioner.
(3) The commissioner shall make the information reported under this
section available to the public in a format that allows comparison
among carriers through a searchable public web site on the internet.
(4) For the purposes of licensed disability insurers, the
commissioner shall work collaboratively with insurers to develop an
additional or supplemental data statement that utilizes to the maximum
extent possible information from the annual statement forms that are
currently filed by these entities.