78R5969 DLF-F

By:  Averitt                                                      S.B. No. 1089



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.