(1) For the purposes of developing or implementing an individual health insurance market stability program, any reports, data, documents, or materials that health carriers submit to or receive from the United States department of health and human services as part of any health and human services operated risk adjustment or reinsurance program, or that the Washington state health insurance pool, established under chapter 48.41 RCW, prepares for purposes of this section that are obtained by, disclosed to, or in the custody of the commissioner, regardless of the form or medium, are confidential and are not subject to public disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW. The commissioner shall not disclose these reports, data, documents, or materials except in the furtherance of developing and implementing an individual health insurance market stability program.

(2) For the purposes of this section:

(a) A health and human services operated risk adjustment or reinsurance program is any of the health insurance risk adjustment or reinsurance programs established under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 18061 and 18063. The reports, data, documents, and materials that are confidential under this section include all data and information carriers are required to provide to health and human services through the dedicated data environments required by 45 C.F.R. Sec. 153.700 et seq. for all health carriers participating in any health and human services health insurance risk adjustment or reinsurance program; and

(b) "Health carrier" has the same meaning as in RCW 48.43.005.

(3) The commissioner may:

(a) Share documents, materials, or other information, including the confidential documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (1) of this section, with contractors conducting actuarial, economic, or other analyses necessary to develop or implement an individual health insurance market stability program.

(b) Enter into agreements governing the sharing and use of information consistent with this subsection.

(4) No waiver of an existing claim of confidentiality or privilege in the documents, materials, or information may occur as a result of disclosure to the commissioner under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subsection (3) of this section.

(5) Nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the commissioner to submit a complete application to the federal government for a waiver of any provision of federal law, including the federal patient protection and affordable care act, P.L. 111-148, as amended by the federal health care and education reconciliation act, P.L. 111-152, or federal regulations or guidance issued under the affordable care act. The commissioner shall provide the *joint select committee on health care oversight established by RCW 44.82.010 with a progress report prior to submitting a draft waiver application to the federal government.

(6) Reports, data, documents, and materials subject to this section are those obtained by the commissioner as of December 31, 2019.

(7) The study conducted under this section to examine individual market stability options must be conducted one time only, and the data requested for purposes of the study must be mutually agreed on between the commissioner and the carriers.

*Reviser's note: The term "joint select committee on health care oversight" was changed to "joint select committee on health care and behavioral health oversight" by 2023 c 10 s 1.

Effective date—2017 3rd sp.s. c 30: "This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately [July 7, 2017]." [ 2017 3rd sp.s. c 30 s 3.]