87R7988 SCL-D
By: Howard H.B. No. 4037
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to county authority to balance bill for county air
ambulance services.
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 113.9025, 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. Subchapter Z, Chapter 113, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 113.9025 to read as follows:
Sec. 113.9025. BALANCE BILLING FOR COUNTY AIR 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 may elect to consider a health benefit plan
payment towards a claim for air ambulance services provided by the
county as payment in full for those services regardless of the
amount the county charged for those services.
(c) A county may not practice balance billing for a claim
for which the county makes an election under Subsection (b).
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.