1-1 By: Rosson, et al. S.B. No. 182
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 11, 1995; January 18, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Economic Development;
1-4 April 12, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 10,
1-5 Nays 0; April 12, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to prohibiting discrimination by certain insurers in
1-9 issuing health insurance policies to women with fibrocystic breast
1-10 conditions; imposing penalties.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Insurance Code, is
1-13 amended by adding Article 21.21-6 to read as follows:
1-14 Art. 21.21-6. FIBROCYSTIC BREAST CONDITIONS. (a) In this
1-15 article, "insurer" means an insurer who delivers or issues for
1-16 delivery or renews any insurance in this state, including any group
1-17 policy, contract, or certificate of health insurance or evidence of
1-18 coverage delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in this state.
1-19 The term includes a group hospital service corporation under
1-20 Chapter 20 of this code and a health maintenance organization under
1-21 the Texas Health Maintenance Organization Act (Chapter 20A,
1-22 Vernon's Texas Insurance Code).
1-23 (b) An insurer, solely because an individual has been
1-24 diagnosed with or has a history of a fibrocystic breast condition,
1-25 may not:
1-26 (1) deny coverage to the individual;
1-27 (2) refuse to renew a policy of insurance covering the
1-28 individual;
1-29 (3) cancel a policy of insurance covering the
1-30 individual;
1-31 (4) limit the amount, extent, or kind of coverage
1-32 available to the individual; or
1-33 (5) charge the individual or a group to which the
1-34 individual belongs a different rate for the same coverage.
1-35 (c) An insurer who violates this article commits an unfair
1-36 and deceptive practice as defined by Article 21.21 of this code and
1-37 is subject to the penalties imposed under that article.
1-38 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 14, Texas Health
1-39 Maintenance Organization Act (Article 20A.14, Vernon's Texas
1-40 Insurance Code), is amended to read as follows:
1-41 (b) Articles 21.21, 21.21A, 21.21-2, <and> 21.21-3, and
1-42 21.21-6, Insurance Code, and Chapter 122, Acts of the 57th
1-43 Legislature, Regular Session, 1961 (Article 21.21-1, Vernon's Texas
1-44 Insurance Code), apply to health maintenance organizations that
1-45 offer both basic and single health care coverages and to basic and
1-46 single health care plans and the evidence of coverage under those
1-47 plans, except to the extent that the commissioner determines that
1-48 the nature of health maintenance organizations and health care
1-49 plans and evidence of coverage renders any provision of those
1-50 articles clearly inappropriate.
1-51 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
1-52 applies only to an insurance policy or an evidence of coverage that
1-53 is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January
1-54 1, 1996. A policy or evidence of coverage that is delivered,
1-55 issued for delivery, or renewed before January 1, 1996, is governed
1-56 by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of
1-57 this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-58 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-59 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-60 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-61 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-62 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-63 * * * * *