By: Brown of Kaufman (Senate Sponsor - Averitt) H.B. No. 1446
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 28, 2003;
May 1, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 21, 2003, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0;
May 21, 2003, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1446 By: Staples
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility of certain children for certain health
benefit coverage.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (M)(3), Section 2, Chapter 397, Acts
of the 54th Legislature, Regular Session, 1955 (Article 3.70-2,
Vernon's Texas Insurance Code), is amended to read as follows:
(3) Other policy provisions relating to maximum
limiting attained age and enrollment in school may be used to
establish continued eligibility for coverage of a child [less than]
25 years of age or older. In the event of late enrollment, the
insurance company may require evidence of insurability
satisfactory to the company before inclusion of the child for
coverage under the policy.
SECTION 2. Section 3(a), Article 21.24-2, Insurance Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) Each health benefit plan that conditions coverage for a
child [up to] 25 years of age or older on the child's being a
full-time student at an educational institution shall provide the
coverage for an entire academic term during which the child begins
as a full-time student and remains enrolled, regardless of whether
the number of hours of instruction for which the child is enrolled
is reduced to a level that changes the child's academic status to
less than that of a full-time student. Additionally, the health
benefit plan shall provide the coverage continuously until the 10th
day of instruction of the subsequent academic term on which date the
health benefit plan may terminate coverage of the child if the child
does not return to full-time student status before that date. A
health benefit plan may not condition coverage for a child younger
than 25 years of age on the child's being enrolled at an educational
institution.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and
applies only to a health insurance policy or health benefit plan
that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after
January 1, 2004. A policy or plan that is delivered, issued for
delivery, or renewed before January 1, 2004, is governed by the law
as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
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