By: Brown of Brazos H.B. No. 103
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operation of certain health benefit plans through
student health centers of certain institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.953, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.953. [CERTAIN REVENUE RECEIVED FROM] STUDENT HEALTH
CENTER [SERVICES].
SECTION 2. Section 51.953, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) to read as
follows:
(c) A student health center of an institution of higher
education with a total student enrollment of more than 8,000
students in one or more semesters of the preceding academic year
shall assist a student or other person entitled to obtain health
care services through the health center in receiving benefits under
a health benefit plan in which the student or other person is an
enrollee by filing or having a claim filed with the issuer of the
health benefit plan on behalf of the student or other person. The
institution may contract with a third-party billing service to
provide the assistance required by this subsection.
(d) An institution of higher education, on behalf of the
institution's student health center, may contract with a health
benefit plan issuer that engages in the business of insurance in the
health service region established by the Department of State Health
Services in which the institution is located to provide a health
benefit plan under which health care services are provided to
students or other persons entitled to obtain health care services
through the student health center who are covered by the plan.
(e) An institution of higher education must enter into
contracts with at least three of the largest health benefit plan
issuers that engage in the business of insurance in the health
service region established by the Department of State Health
Services in which the institution is located under which the
institution's student health center:
(1) serves as a preferred provider under the preferred
provider benefit plans operated by the issuers; or
(2) operates as a provider of in-network coverage
under the health maintenance organizations operated by the issuers.
(f) An institution of higher education may authorize the
institution's student health center to accept a student's medical
services fee, as charged by the institution under Chapter 54, as
payment toward:
(1) a copayment;
(2) a deductible; or
(3) a charge for a service not covered by the student's
health benefit plan.
(g) Money received by the student health center as a result
of a claim filed by or on behalf of a student through a health
benefit plan shall be retained for use by the student health center.
(h) Not later than January 15 of each year, the governing
board of an institution of higher education shall report to the
legislature the amount of the following sources of income for
funding the institution's student health center:
(1) money received from student fees and charges;
(2) money received from the operation of the student
health center's pharmacy;
(3) money received as a result of a claim filed by or
on behalf of the institution's student health center under a health
benefit plan sponsored by or administered on behalf of the
institution; and
(4) money received as a result of a claim filed by or
on behalf of the institution's student health center under a health
benefit plan other than a plan sponsored by or administered on
behalf of the institution.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.