78R4253 DLF-D

By:  Madden                                                       H.B. No. 3196



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to premium rates for certain small employer health benefit 
plans.  
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Articles 26.32(a) and (c), Insurance Code, are 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The premium rates for a small employer health benefit 
plan with an enrollment of at least six eligible employees are 
subject to this article.
	(c)  For a class of business, the premium rates charged 
during a rating period to small employers with similar case 
characteristics for the same or similar coverage, or the rates that 
could be charged to those employers under the rating system for that 
class of business, may not vary from the index rate by more than 43
[25] percent.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a small employer health benefit plan that is 
delivered or issued for delivery on or after January 1, 2004.  A  
small employer health benefit plan that is delivered or issued for 
delivery 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.