By: Hancock, Whitmire S.B. No. 999

(In the Senate - Filed March 4, 2021; March 18, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce; April 19, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 19, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 999 By: Hancock

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to county and municipal authority and a study regarding certain medical and health care billing by ambulance service providers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 113.902(a), Local Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Except as provided by Section 140.013, the [The] county treasurer shall direct prosecution for the recovery of any debt owed to the county, as provided by law, and shall supervise the collection of the debt.

SECTION 2. Chapter 140, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 140.013 to read as follows:

Sec. 140.013. BALANCE BILLING FOR COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL AMBULANCE SERVICES. (a) "Balance billing" means the practice of charging an enrollee in a health benefit plan to recover from the enrollee the balance of a health care provider's fee for a service received by the enrollee from the health care provider that is not fully reimbursed by the enrollee's health benefit plan.

(b) A county or municipality may elect to consider a health benefit plan payment towards a claim for air or ground ambulance services provided by the county or municipality as payment in full for those services regardless of the amount the county or municipality charged for those services.

(c) A county or municipality may not practice balance billing for a claim for which the county or municipality makes an election under Subsection (b).

SECTION 3. (a) In this section, "department" means the Texas Department of Insurance.

(b) The department shall conduct a study on the balance billing practices of county and municipal ground ambulance service providers and the variations in prices for county and municipal ground ambulance services.

(c) Not later than December 1, 2022, the department shall provide a written report of the results of the study conducted under Subsection (b) of this section to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and members of the standing committees of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over the department.

(d) This section expires September 1, 2023.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

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