BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2603

By: Farrar

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties call for health benefit plans offered by large employer groups to provide the same level of coverage for posttraumatic stress disorder as the plans currently provide for other serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, major depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and schizophrenia. H.B. 2603 seeks to ensure this coverage by including posttraumatic stress disorder among the mental illnesses for which certain group health benefit plans provide coverage.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2603 amends the Insurance Code to include posttraumatic stress disorder among the psychiatric illnesses constituting a serious mental illness for purposes of group health benefit plan coverage for certain serious mental illnesses and other disorders. The bill exempts a qualified health plan from statutory provisions relating to group health benefit plan coverage for certain serious mental illnesses and other disorders, or from the applicable portion of those provisions, to the extent that a determination is made under specified federal regulations that those statutory provisions require the plan to offer benefits in addition to the essential health benefits required under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and that the state is required to defray the cost of the benefits mandated under those statutory provisions. The bill's provisions apply only to a group health benefit plan that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2018.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2017.