By McDonald                                           H.B. No. 1416
       74R4244 PB-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to benefits for the detection and prevention of
    1-3  osteoporosis under group health insurance policies.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 3, Insurance Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Article 3.51-15 to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 3.51-15.  BENEFITS FOR DETECTION AND PREVENTION OF
    1-8  OSTEOPOROSIS UNDER GROUP POLICIES
    1-9        Sec. 1.  DEFINITION.  In this article, "group health
   1-10  insurance policy" means a group insurance policy, a group hospital
   1-11  service contract, or a group contract issued by a health
   1-12  maintenance organization that:
   1-13              (1)  is entered into or delivered, issued for delivery,
   1-14  or renewed in this state; and
   1-15              (2)  provides benefits for medical or surgical expenses
   1-16  incurred as a result of accident or sickness.
   1-17        Sec. 2.  REQUIRED COVERAGE.  A group health insurance policy
   1-18  must provide to a person covered by the policy coverage for
   1-19  medically accepted bone mass measurement for:
   1-20              (1)  the detection of low bone mass; and
   1-21              (2)  the determination and evaluation of the person's
   1-22  risk of osteoporosis and fractures associated with the condition of
   1-23  osteoporosis.
   1-24        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-1  applies only to an insurance policy that is delivered, issued for
    2-2  delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 1996, or a group
    2-3  contract that is entered into or renewed on or after that date.  A
    2-4  policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed before
    2-5  January 1, 1996, or a contract that is entered into or renewed
    2-6  before that date, is governed by the law as it existed immediately
    2-7  before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
    2-8  effect for that purpose.
    2-9        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.