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Senate Bill 1795 |
Senate Author: Watson et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Guillen |
Senate Bill 1795 amends the Insurance Code to add temporary provisions, set to expire September 1, 2017, relating to the regulation of navigators for health benefit exchanges established or operated under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill authorizes a navigator to perform any duty or function authorized or required by the bill's provisions or any applicable federal law or regulation without obtaining a license from the Texas Department of Insurance or any other state agency, provided that the navigator satisfies the bill's requirements. The bill exempts from its provisions a licensed life, accident, and health insurance agent; a licensed life and health insurance counselor; and a licensed life and health insurance company.
Senate Bill 1795 requires the commissioner of insurance to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions and to meet the minimum requirements of applicable federal law. The bill requires the commissioner to determine whether the standards and qualifications for navigators provided under federal law are sufficient to ensure that navigators can perform their required duties and, if the commissioner determines that the standards are insufficient, requires the commissioner to make a good faith effort to work in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and to propose improvements to the federal standards. If after a reasonable interval the commissioner determines that the federal standards remain insufficient, the bill requires the commissioner by rule to establish standards and qualifications to ensure that navigators in Texas can perform the required duties.
Senate Bill 1795 specifies certain minimum standards that must be included in the commissioner's navigator rules; requires the commissioner, at regular intervals, to obtain from the health benefit exchange a list of all navigators providing assistance in Texas and, with respect to an individual, the name of the individual's employer or organization; and authorizes the commissioner by rule to establish a state registration for navigators sufficient to ensure that those standards are satisfied and the information is collected. The bill sets out restrictions on navigator advertising and prohibits a navigator from receiving compensation for services or duties as a navigator that are prohibited by federal law. The bill requires the commissioner to adopt rules authorizing additional training for navigators as the commissioner considers necessary to ensure compliance with changes in state or federal law. The bill prohibits a navigator from performing certain acts unless the navigator is licensed to act as a life, accident, and health insurance agent.