There has been an ongoing debate in the Washington state Legislature about whether or not health insurance companies should make the request for rate increases public.  The issue involves House Bill 1220, which would make the rate request public as soon as the office of Commissioner Mike Kreidler receives it according to the article “Insurance Chief on Premera: ‘Cruel Charade on Public’” by Vanessa Ho on SeattlePI.com.

If this bill passed consumers would be able to see an insurance company’s actuarial formulas and reasons behind requesting a rate increase.  They also would be able to comment on the rate increase request in a public forum.  Group Health Cooperative and Regence BlueShield support this new bill.  Premera Blue Cross is lobbying for changes to “water down” the bill.  Previously, Premera proposed an amendment that rate filings become public only if and when the rates hike is approved.  This amendment did not go through.

Premera has submitted another amendment which says the public an only see summaries of rate filings, not all of the information.  Kreidler called this amendment an attempt to water down the bill and says partial filing information is meaningless to Washington residents and they deserve better.  If this passes it could affect consumers’ views on various companies and ultimately affect an HMO insurance quote.