§ 27-4.7-9 - Confidentiality – Prohibition on announcements – Prohibition on use in ratemaking. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 27-4.7-9

   § 27-4.7-9  Confidentiality –Prohibition on announcements – Prohibition on use in ratemaking. –(a) All RBC reports (to the extent the information is not required to be setforth in a publicly available annual statement schedule) and RBC plans(including the results or report of any examination or analysis of a healthorganization performed pursuant to this chapter and any corrective order issuedby the commissioner pursuant to examination or analysis) with respect to adomestic health organization or foreign health organization that are filed withthe commissioner constitute information that might be damaging to the healthorganization if made available to its competitors, and shall be keptconfidential by the commissioner. This information shall not be made public orbe subject to subpoena, other than by the commissioner and then only for thepurpose of enforcement actions taken by the commissioner pursuant to thischapter or any other provision of the insurance laws of this state.

   (b) It is the judgment of the legislature that the comparisonof a health organization's total adjusted capital to any of its RBC levels is aregulatory tool which may indicate the need for corrective action with respectto the health organization, and is not intended as a means to rank healthorganizations generally. Except as required under the provisions of thischapter, the making, publishing, disseminating, circulating, or placing beforethe public, or causing, directly or indirectly to be made, published,disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public, in a newspaper,magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet,letter, or poster, or over a radio or television station, or in any other way,an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing an assertion,representation, or statement with regard to the RBC levels of any healthorganization, or of any component derived in the calculation, by any healthorganization, agent, broker, or other person engaged in any manner in theinsurance business, would be misleading and is prohibited; provided, that ifany materially false statement with respect to the comparison regarding ahealth organization's total adjusted capital to its RBC levels (or any of them)or an inappropriate comparison of any other amount to the health organization'sRBC levels is published in any written publication and the health organizationis able to demonstrate to the commissioner with substantial proof the falsityof the statement, or the inappropriateness, then the health organization maypublish an announcement in a written publication, if the sole purpose of theannouncement is to rebut the materially false statement.