Section 40: Requires Carriers to Submit Annual Financial Statements

(a) Each carrier shall submit an annual comprehensive financial statement to the division detailing carrier costs from the previous calendar year. The annual comprehensive financial statement shall include all of the information in this section and shall be itemized, where applicable, by: (i) market group size, including individual; small groups of 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 25 and 26 to 50; large groups of 50 to 100, 101 to 500, 501 to 1000 and greater than 1000; and (ii) line of business, including individual, general, blanket or group policy of health, accident or sickness insurance issued by an insurer licensed under chapter 175; a hospital service plan issued by a nonprofit hospital service corporation under chapter 176A; a medical service plan issued by a nonprofit hospital service corporation under chapter 176B; a health maintenance contract issued by a health maintenance organization under chapter 176G; insured health benefit plan that includes a preferred provider arrangement issued under chapter 176I; and group health insurance plans issued by the commission under chapter 32A. The statement shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following information: (i) direct premiums earned, as defined in chapter 176J; direct claims incurred, as defined in said chapter 176J; (ii) medical loss ratio; (iii) number of members; (iv) number of distinct groups covered; (v) number of lives covered; (vii) realized capital gains and losses; (viii) net income; (ix) accumulated surplus; (x) accumulated reserves; (xi) risk-based capital ratio, based on a formula developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; (xii) financial administration expenses, including underwriting, auditing, actuarial, financial analysis, treasury and investment expenses; (xiii) marketing and sales expenses, including advertising, member relations, member enrollment expenses; (xiv) distributions expenses, including commissions, producers, broker and benefit consultant expenses; (xv) claims operations expenses, including adjudication, appeals, settlements and expenses associated with paying claims; (xvi) medical administration expenses, including disease management, utilization review and medical management expenses; (xvii) network operational expenses, including contracting, hospital and physician relations and medical policy procedures; (xviii) charitable expenses, including any contributions to tax-exempt foundations and community benefits; (xix) board, bureau or association fees; (xx) any miscellaneous expenses described in detail by expense, including an expense not included in (i) to (xix), inclusive; (xxi) payroll expenses and the number of employees on the carrier's payroll; (xxii) taxes, if any, paid by the carrier to the federal government or to the commonwealth; and (xxiii) any other information deemed necessary by the commissioner.

(b)(1) In this subsection, the following words shall have the following meanings: “Carrier”, an insurer licensed or otherwise authorized to transact accident or health insurance under chapter 175; a nonprofit hospital service corporation organized under chapter 176A; a nonprofit medical service corporation organized under chapter 176B; a health maintenance organization organized under chapter 176G; and an organization entering into a preferred provider arrangement under chapter 176I; or a third party administrator, a pharmacy benefit manager or other similar entity with claims data, eligibility data, provider files and other information relating to health care provided to residents of the commonwealth and health care provided by health care providers in the commonwealth; provided, however, that “carrier” shall include an entity that offers a policy, certificate or contract that provides coverage solely for dental care services or visions care services. “Self-insured customer”, a self-insured group for which a carrier provides administrative services. “Third-party administrator”, a person who, on behalf of a health insurer or purchaser of health benefits, receives or collects charges, contributions or premiums for, or adjusts or settles claims on or for residents of the commonwealth.

(2) Any carrier required to report under this section, which provides administrative services to 1 or more self-insured groups shall include, as an appendix to such report, the following information: (i) the number of the carrier's self-insured customers; (ii) the aggregate number of members, as defined in section 1 of chapter 176J, in all of the carrier's self-insured customers; (iii) the aggregate number of lives covered in all of the carrier's self-insured customers; (iv) the aggregate value of direct premiums earned, as defined in said section 1 of said chapter 176J, for all of the carrier's self-insured customers; (v) the aggregate value of direct claims incurred, as defined in said section 1 of said chapter 176J, for all of the carrier's self-insured customers; (vi) the aggregate medical loss ratio, as defined in said section of said chapter 176J, for all of the carrier's self-insured customers; (vii) net income; (viii) accumulated surplus; (ix) accumulated reserves; (x) the percentage of the carrier's self-insured customers that include each of the benefits mandated for health benefit plans under chapters 175, 176A, 176B and 176G; (xi) administrative service fees paid by each of the carrier's self-insured customers; and (xii) any other information deemed necessary by the commissioner.

(c) A carrier who fails to file this report on or before April 1 shall be assessed a late penalty not to exceed $100 per day.

The division shall make public all of the information collected under this section. The division shall issue an annual summary report to the joint committee on financial services, the joint committee on health care financing and the house and senate committees on ways and means of the annual comprehensive financial statements by May 15. The information shall be exchanged with the division of health care finance and policy for use under section 6 of chapter 118G. The division shall, from time to time, require payers to submit the underlying data used in their calculations for audit. The commissioner may adopt rules to carry out this subsection, including standards and procedures requiring the registration of persons or entities not otherwise licensed or registered by the commissioner, such as third-party administrators, and criteria for the standardized reporting and uniform allocation methodologies among carriers. The division shall, before adopting regulations under this subsection, consult with other agencies of the commonwealth and the federal government and affected carriers to ensure that the reporting requirements imposed under the regulations are not duplicative. (d) If, in any year, a carrier reports a risk-based capital ratio on a combined entity basis under subsection (a) that exceeds 700 per cent, the division shall hold a public hearing within 60 days. The carrier shall submit testimony on its overall financial condition and the continued need for additional surplus. The carrier shall also submit testimony on how, and in what proportion to the total surplus accumulated, the carrier will dedicate any additional surplus to reducing the cost of health benefit plans or for health care quality improvement, patient safety or health cost containment activities not conducted in previous years. The division shall review such testimony and issue a final report on the results of the hearing.

Summary

Requires insurance carriers, including third party administrators of insurance plans, to report information to the Division of Insurance (DOI) on premiums earned, membership, medical loss ratio, and other detailed financial information associated with business operations. Carriers must annually report this information to DOI each April 1st to avoid a late penalty and may subsequently be subject to an audit. Information collected under this provision will be available to the public, and DOI must issue an annual report of information collected under this provision to the legislature. Any carrier that reports a risk-based capital ratio over 700% must participate in a public hearing to determine what portion of excess funds will go toward reducing the costs of health benefit plans or for health care quality improvement.

DOI may develop procedures to carry out the requirements of this section, including requiring the registration of third party administrators and standardizing reporting criteria, after consulting with state and federal agencies and affected carriers to ensure that regulations are not duplicative.