HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 2266

BYRepresentatives Braddock, Brooks, Ballard, Jacobsen, May, Wolfe, Anderson, Van Luven,  D. Sommers, Crane, Brumsickle and Wood; by request of Washington Basic Health Plan

Providing confidentiality for certain basic health plan records and data.

House Committe on Health Care

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (9)

      Signed by Representatives Braddock, Chair; Day, Vice Chair; Brooks, Ranking Republican Member; Chandler, Morris, Sommers, Sprenkle, Vekich and Wolfe.

House Staff:Bill Hagens (786-7131)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 6, 1990

BACKGROUND:

The Washington Basic Health Plan (BHP) was established as a demonstration project in 1987 to provide basic health care benefits for up to 30,000 individuals, under the age of 65, who are ineligible for Medicare, and whose gross family income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.  Presently, over 7,300 members are enrolled in five sites.

Current statute does not explicitly grant the BHP authority to protect confidential information in its files, including information about patient medical treatment or data used by managed health care systems to support their rate filings.

Without explicit protection, managed health care systems are reluctant to share medical information that might jeopardize the privacy of their patients, especially, since federal law strictly requires protection.

Also, managed health care systems are reluctant to provide confidential financial data and actuarial assumptions used to develop their rates, if there is a possibility that their competitors would have access to such data.  Potentially, this could hamper BHP's ability to effectively negotiate the lowest possible rate for health coverage.

SUMMARY:

Basic Health Plan-related medical records and managed health care systems rating filing data are exempted from public records disclosure provisions of Chapter 42.17 RCW.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Tom Kobler, Washington Basic Health Plan.

House Committee - Testified Against:      No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Without protection against inappropriate release of medical information and financial statistics, the efficient operation of the Basic Health Plan could be jeopardized.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None.