By:  Moncrief                                          S.B. No. 831
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the establishment of a medical assistance buy-in pilot
 1-3     program for certain persons with disabilities.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,
 1-6     is amended by adding Section 32.053 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 32.053.  MEDICAL ASSISTANCE BUY-IN PILOT PROGRAM FOR
 1-8     CERTAIN RECIPIENTS WITH DISABILITIES.  (a)  The department shall
 1-9     develop and implement a medical assistance buy-in pilot program in
1-10     accordance with the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement
1-11     Act of 1999 (Pub. L. No. 106-170) to provide medical assistance to:
1-12                 (1)  a person who:
1-13                       (A)  is at least 16 years of age, but is not more
1-14     than 64 years of age;
1-15                       (B)  but for earnings that exceed the limit
1-16     established by federal law for Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
1-17     (42 U.S.C. Section 1381 et seq.), would be considered to be
1-18     receiving Supplemental Security Income; and
1-19                       (C)  has income, assets, and resources that do
1-20     not exceed the limits established by the department under
1-21     Subsection (c), if any; and
1-22                 (2)  an employed individual with a medically improved
1-23     disability, as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396d(v)(1) whose
1-24     income, assets, and resources do not exceed the limits established
1-25     by the department under Subsection (c), if any.
 2-1           (b)  The department shall operate the pilot program in three
 2-2     specific geographic areas of the state, each of which is located in
 2-3     a local workforce development area for which the local workforce
 2-4     development board has received a federal work incentive grant under
 2-5     the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Section 2801 et
 2-6     seq.), as amended, to provide employment services and supports to
 2-7     persons with disabilities.  The department shall determine the
 2-8     pilot sites, with one site in an urban area, one site in a rural
 2-9     area, and one site in the Texas-Mexico border region.
2-10           (c)  In establishing the pilot program, the department may:
2-11                 (1)  establish income, assets, and resource limitations
2-12     for eligibility for the medical assistance buy-in pilot program;
2-13     and
2-14                 (2)  require a person who participates in the medical
2-15     assistance buy-in pilot program to pay premiums and other
2-16     cost-sharing charges in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Section
2-17     1396o(g)(1).
2-18           (d)  In establishing the program, the department shall
2-19     require a person who participates in the medical assistance buy-in
2-20     pilot program to pay premiums to the extent required by 42 U.S.C.
2-21     Section 1396o(g)(2).
2-22           (e)  Not later than December 1, 2002, the department shall
2-23     submit to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature a
2-24     report concerning the effectiveness of the pilot program.  The
2-25     report must include a recommendation regarding the feasibility of
2-26     expanding the pilot program statewide.
 3-1           (f)  This section expires September 1, 2003.
 3-2           SECTION 2.  Not later than January 1, 2002, the Texas
 3-3     Department of Human Services shall develop and implement the
 3-4     medical assistance buy-in pilot program under Section 32.053, Human
 3-5     Resources Code, as added by this Act.
 3-6           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.