By Mr. Baddour, a petition (accompanied by bill,
Senate, No. 562) of Steven A. Baddour for legislation
relative to promoting a transparent, fair and equitable
pricing structure in the insurance industry. Financial
Services. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 26 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 8J the following four new sections:
Section 8K. As used in this section and in sections 8L and 8N, an insurer shall be defined as a carrier authorized to transact accident and health insurance under chapter 175, a nonprofit hospital service corporation licensed under chapter 176A, a nonprofit medical service corporation licensed under chapter 176B, a dental service corporation organized under chapter 176E, an optometric service corporation organized under chapter 176F and a health maintenance organization licensed under chapter 176G.
Section 8L. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, all insurers marketing small group or large group plans in the Commonwealth shall annually submit to the division of insurance on or before April 1 the following: current average individual and family plan premiums for the insurers’ most commonly sold plan for groups of 1 to 5 employees, 6 to 10 employees, 11 to 25 employees, 26 to 50 employees, 51 to 100 employees, 101 to 500 employees, 501 to 1000 employees, 1001 to 2500 employees, 2501 to 5000 employees and 5001 employees and above. Public employer plans shall be similarly aggregated and reported separately. All reports shall include plan design summaries, including average benefits and co-pays.
Section 8M. The division of insurance shall on or before April 1 annually compile through confidential surveys, division filings and other means, average individual and family plan costs for ERISA exempt self-insured health plans operating in the Commonwealth using the most commonly offered plan design.
Section 8N. On or before July 1, the division of insurance and the division of health care finance and policy shall annually make available the Massachusetts Health Insurance Transparency Report for consumer and employer use. Said report shall be compiled using data collected under the authority of this act. Average premium cost results from section 8L shall be published by insurer, employer size category and by the most common plan design. Results from section 8M shall be reported in aggregate form.
