Bill > SB818

This bill establishes the Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program at the Center for Health Care Data at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, which will conduct comprehensive analyses of proposed legislation that would impose new mandates on health benefit plan issuers. The program will assess potential impacts of proposed health-related legislation, including estimated changes in health coverage costs, expected increases or decreases in health care service usage, administrative expenses, overall spending, potential reductions in premature deaths, and the medical and scientific evidence supporting proposed health care services. Legislators can request these analyses, which must be completed within 45-60 days depending on whether the legislature is in session, and the resulting reports will be delivered to legislative leadership and published online. To fund the program, the comptroller will assess an annual fee on health benefit plan issuers (excluding Medicaid managed care organizations), with the fee amount to be determined and potentially adjusted each state fiscal biennium. The bill requires the center to establish the program by January 1, 2026, and mandates that the comptroller adopt implementing rules by the same date, with the act taking effect either immediately upon receiving a two-thirds legislative vote or on September 1, 2025.