By Maxey                                              H.B. No. 1034
       74R4879 GCH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to health insurance coverage under the Texas Employees
    1-3  Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  The Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance
    1-6  Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's Texas Insurance Code) is
    1-7  amended by adding Section 5B to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 5B.  MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT COVERAGE.  (a)  The trustee
    1-9  shall provide optional group Medicare supplement coverages for
   1-10  employees, annuitants, and their dependents who are eligible to
   1-11  receive Medicare.  The group Medicare supplement coverages must
   1-12  meet the requirements of Article 3.74, Insurance Code, for group
   1-13  Medicare supplement policies.  An employee or annuitant may not
   1-14  enroll in a coverage provided under this section in addition to
   1-15  other coverages provided under this Act.
   1-16        (b)  An employee or annuitant who enrolls in a coverage
   1-17  provided under this section and for whom employer contributions are
   1-18  made by the state is entitled to receive 40 percent of any amount
   1-19  by which the premium for the basic coverage of the employee or
   1-20  annuitant only is less than the premium for the coverage of an
   1-21  employee or annuitant only under the coverage the employee or
   1-22  annuitant had immediately before enrolling in a coverage provided
   1-23  under this section.
   1-24        (c)  The amount to which an employee or annuitant may be
    2-1  entitled under Subsection (b) of this section is payable from
    2-2  employer contributions made by the state to the Employees Life,
    2-3  Accident, and Health Insurance and Benefits Fund.  The trustee by
    2-4  rule shall determine the manner and frequency of payments to be
    2-5  made under this section.
    2-6        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a group benefits plan
    2-7  issued, delivered, or issued for delivery under the Texas Employees
    2-8  Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's
    2-9  Texas Insurance Code), as amended by this Act, on or after
   2-10  September 1, 1995.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-16  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-17  passage, and it is so enacted.