H.B. No. 497
AN ACT
relating to a study to determine the effect on the health care
infrastructure in this state if the state Medicaid program is
abolished or a severe reduction in federal matching money under the
program occurs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Health and Human Services Commission and
Texas Department of Insurance shall conduct a joint study to
determine the effect on the health care infrastructure in this
state, including health care delivery mechanisms, if the state
Medicaid program is abolished or the amount of federal matching
money available to the state under the program is severely reduced.
The study must address the effect on the availability of and
accessibility to health care services provided under the state
Medicaid program as of the effective date of this Act. In
conducting the study, the commission and department may seek input
from health advocacy groups.
(b) As part of the study, the Health and Human Services
Commission and Texas Department of Insurance shall:
(1) identify all available health care resources
throughout the state, both public and private, that are not funded
wholly or partly by the state Medicaid program;
(2) identify which population groups receiving
services under the state Medicaid program as of the effective date
of this Act would be most at risk of losing those services if the
program were abolished or the amount of federal matching money
available to the state under the program were severely reduced; and
(3) determine the effect abolishment of the state
Medicaid program would have on local health care service providers
and local financing mechanisms that provide or support care to
individuals who cannot afford necessary health care services.
(c) Not later than July 1, 2010, the Health and Human
Services Commission and Texas Department of Insurance shall submit
a joint report of the commission's and department's findings and
conclusions resulting from the study to the lieutenant governor,
the speaker of the house of representatives, and the presiding
officers of the standing committees of the senate and house of
representatives having primary jurisdiction over health and human
services. The report must include:
(1) a statewide plan for making a transition of the
provision and delivery of health care services from the state
Medicaid program to a new health care delivery system if the program
were abolished or the amount of federal matching money available to
the state under the program were severely reduced; and
(2) an analysis of the fiscal impact to this state of
continuing to provide health care services to population groups
served by the state Medicaid program if the program were abolished
or the amount of federal matching money available to the state under
the program were severely reduced, including a fiscal analysis for
each phase of the transition plan described by Subdivision (1) of
this subsection.
(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission and the commissioner of insurance may adopt the
transition plan required by Subsection (c)(1) of this section as a
contingency plan for transitioning recipients of health care
services from the state Medicaid program to a new health care
delivery system.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 497 was passed by the House on April
30, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 497 was passed by the Senate on May
21, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor