H.B. No. 103
AN ACT
relating to health benefit plans for students at institutions of
higher education and the operation of certain health benefit plans
through student health centers at certain institutions of higher
education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.952, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.952. STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE AT MEDICAL AND DENTAL
UNITS.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.9521 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.9521. STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE AT GENERAL ACADEMIC
TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Health benefit plan" means any health benefit
plan regulated under the Insurance Code, including:
(A) an individual, group, or blanket health
insurance policy; or
(B) an evidence of coverage issued by a health
maintenance organization.
(2) "High deductible health plan" has the meaning
assigned by Section 223, Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(3) "General academic teaching institution" and
"university system" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) A general academic teaching institution with a total
student enrollment of more than 20,000 students in one or more
semesters of the preceding academic year shall offer or sponsor,
directly or through the university system, if any, of which the
institution is a component, one or more health benefit plans for the
students of the institution. At least one health benefit plan
offered under this section must be a high deductible health plan.
(c) When offering the health benefit plan to students, the
institution shall collect information from each student that
declines to accept the coverage offered through the institution,
including whether the decision to decline coverage was as a result
of:
(1) the student's existing health benefit plan
coverage from another source;
(2) the cost of the health benefit plan;
(3) the type of health benefit plan offered by the
institution; or
(4) the student not desiring a health benefit plan at
that time.
(d) Data collected by the institution may be provided to the
public in the aggregate.
SECTION 3. 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 4. 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 20,000
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 described by
Subsection (c) 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 described by Subsection
(c) 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 5. Section 51.9521, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2010 fall semester.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 103 was passed by the House on May 13,
2009, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 4, 1 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 103 on May 29, 2009, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 103 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 139,
Nays 5, 2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 103 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 27, Nays
4; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
103 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 27, Nays 4.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor