By: Talarico H.B. No. 58
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to county and municipal authority regarding certain
medical and health care billing by ambulance service providers.
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 140.013, 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. Chapter 140, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Section 140.013 to read as follows:
Sec. 140.013. BALANCE BILLING FOR COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL
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 or municipality may elect to consider a health
benefit plan payment towards a claim for air or ground ambulance
services provided by the county or municipality as payment in full
for those services regardless of the amount the county or
municipality charged for those services.
(c) A county or municipality may not practice balance
billing for a claim for which the county or municipality makes an
election under Subsection (b).
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.