86R12178 KLA-D
By: Beckley H.B. No. 2313
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a Medicaid buy-in program for employees of small
businesses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.024442 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.024442. MEDICAID BUY-IN PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYEES OF
SMALL BUSINESSES. (a) In this section:
(1) "Program participant" means an employee of a small
business who receives health care services under Medicaid through
the buy-in program established under this section.
(2) "Small business" means a business with an annual
gross revenue of $850,000 or less.
(b) The commission shall operate a Medicaid buy-in program
under which a person who is an employee of a small business may
receive health care services under Medicaid. The executive
commissioner shall adopt rules for the program that:
(1) establish eligibility requirements for
participation in the program, including household income limits,
that ensure receipt of federal matching money for providing health
care services under Medicaid to a program participant;
(2) require financial participation by the program
participant, including a requirement that the program participant
pay, according to a sliding scale based on household income
determined in accordance with commission rules, a portion of any
premiums imposed or cost-sharing payments required under the
program; and
(3) require financial participation by a small
business that employs a program participant, including a
requirement that the small business pay a portion of any premiums
imposed or cost-sharing payments required under the program, in
amounts determined in accordance with commission rules.
(c) The executive commissioner shall ensure that the rules
adopted under Subsection (b) regarding the financial participation
required of a small business are not cost prohibitive to
participation by a small business in the program.
(d) The program under this section must be substantively
identical to the Medicaid buy-in programs for persons with
disabilities established under Section 531.02444, except to the
extent that programmatic differences are appropriate because of the
populations served by the programs.
(e) The commission shall prepare and make available to small
businesses information concerning the availability of and
application process for the program under this section. A small
business may provide that information to its employees and
prospective employees.
SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2020, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt the rules required by Section 531.024442, Government Code, as
added by this Act, and the commission shall implement the program
required by that section.
SECTION 3. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.