This bill amends existing law (RCW 48.43.800) to give the insurance commissioner authority to require health carriers to submit annual reports about primary care expenditures for prior calendar years or anticipated upcoming years. The commissioner may set the form and content of those reports, and must consider the definition of primary care expenditures and any expenditure targets in RCW 70.390.080 and the primary care expenditure reporting systems used by the Health Care Authority for medical assistance and employee benefits under chapters 41.05 and 74.09 RCW. Reports submitted under this section are designated public information. The text provided does not define key terms used in the amendment (for example, "commissioner," "health carriers," or "primary care expenditures"), nor does it specify when the reporting requirement would begin, any enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or detailed submission deadlines beyond an annual frequency. The bill was read for the first time on 01/17/25 and referred to the Committee on Health Care & Wellness; it also references 2022 c 155 s 2.

If enacted, health carriers would have to prepare and submit an annual, public report on their primary care spending for past or expected calendar years in a format set by the insurance commissioner. That will create a new ongoing administrative task and likely modest compliance costs for carriers, and it makes carriers’ primary care spending open to public review, which could increase pressure on carriers to shift spending toward primary care to align with targets referenced in RCW 70.390.080. Those most affected are health carriers, which gain reporting responsibilities and associated costs and public scrutiny; the insurance commissioner and the Health Care Authority will spend staff time designing and coordinating the report format so it can align with existing state reporting for medical assistance and employee benefits. Important details are missing here: the bill text does not specify when reporting must begin, exact reporting deadlines or enforcement mechanisms, or the precise definition of “primary care expenditures” (it points to RCW 70.390.080 for that), so the practical burden and legal effect will depend on those details.