Insurance department seeks uniform file format for federal price‑transparency feeds to make insurer price data usable

Representative Derek Ammon presented House Bill 705 as a department‑requested measure to improve the usefulness of insurer price‑transparency files that carriers are now required to post under federal rules. The bill largely mirrors the federal Transparency in Coverage rule but adds authority for the Insurance Commissioner to set a single, state‑level machine‑readable format so the data can be analyzed and repurposed by researchers, consumer tools and the department.

Insurance Department: uniform format is the missing link

Alex Feldweg, health reform director at the Insurance Department, told the committee the federal rule obliges carriers to post three machine‑readable files — negotiated in‑network rates, out‑of‑network allowed amounts and paid amounts, and prescription‑drug negotiated prices/historical net price — but it does not mandate a single, uniform format. "Carriers are posting the information, but they are doing it in different formats and different styles of presentation, which has in most part had the effect of making that information not very useful to researchers or to innovators," Feldweg said. He asked the committee to codify the federal disclosure obligations and give the department authority to set a consistent format through rulemaking.

Department reasoned the measure would not add substantive new reporting obligations beyond the federal rule; rather, it would standardize the structure so the department, researchers and third‑party developers can use the data to produce consumer tools and compare plans. Feldweg said the department had contracted technical assistance over the summer and found the lack of a single format makes aggregation and comparison impractical.

Insurers raise implementation cost concerns

Insurer representatives agreed transparency is important but warned that changes to the data format would impose technical costs. Peter Bragdon of Harvard Pilgrim and Sabrina Dunlap of Anthem said the federal rule already requires carriers to post large machine‑readable files and that states imposing different formatting or extra technical requirements risk creating multiple non‑compatible feeds across states. Anthem and AHIP asked the committee to pause on any prescription‑drug file specification until the federal rule for that component is finalized.

Department response and next steps

The Insurance Department told the panel it prefers to work with carriers and adopt a single format by rule rather than prescribe a final technical schema in statute. That approach would allow the department to require a common CSV/JSON orientation for the three machine‑readable files while minimizing repeated statutory change. The committee closed the hearing and indicated it will ask the department and carriers to continue design conversations; no vote was taken at the hearing.

Why it matters

State regulators and researchers have struggled to use the current contractor‑provided federal files because format variation prevents straightforward aggregation. A consistent state format could allow the department and third‑party developers to create more useful price‑comparison tools for consumers and employers and to analyze insurer market behavior at scale.

Ending note

Witnesses on all sides said they want workable transparency; the committee asked the department and insurers to continue technical discussions in advance of subcommittee work and to consider cost implications for carriers already complying with federal posting requirements.