Amend Amendment No. 53 by McClendon to HB 1951 by adding the following appropriately numbered item to the amendment and renumbering subsequent items of the amendment accordingly:

(____)  Add the following SECTION, appropriately numbered, to ARTICLE 1 of the bill and renumber subsequent SECTIONS of the ARTICLE accordingly:

SECTION ____.  (a) The Texas Department of Insurance shall conduct a study concerning the feasibility and effectiveness of the establishment of a mandatory medical reinsurance program in this state through which issuers of group health benefit plans offered by employers with 100 or fewer employees would be required to purchase reinsurance.

(b)  The study conducted under this section must:

(1)  include an analysis of data from calendar years 2009, 2010, and 2011; and

(2)  seek to determine what effect, if any, the establishment of a medical reinsurance program described by Subsection (a) of this section would have had on premium rates, renewal rates, and overall costs to employers during calendar years 2009, 2010, and 2011, had the program been operational during those years.

(c)  The department may request information from the Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and health benefit plan issuers in this state as necessary to complete the study required under this section.

(d)  The department shall include the results of the study conducted under this section in the biennial report submitted to the legislature under Section 32.022, Insurance Code, nearest to December 31, 2012.