Bill > HB1906

This bill establishes the Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program (the "analysis program") at the Center for Health Care Data at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The program will analyze proposed legislation that would impose new mandates on health benefit plan issuers, providing detailed assessments of potential impacts such as changes in health coverage costs, healthcare service utilization, administrative expenses, and potential reductions in premature death or economic loss due to disease. Legislators, including the lieutenant governor and house speaker, can request these analyses, which must be completed within 45-60 days depending on whether the legislature is in session. The analysis will examine factors like medical evidence, current coverage availability, and projected financial impacts. 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 adjusted biennially. The program will consult experts and issue reports that are publicly accessible, while protecting the confidentiality of individual health plan issuer data. The bill requires the program to be established by January 1, 2026, and will take effect either immediately upon receiving a two-thirds vote in the legislature or on September 1, 2025, if that threshold is not met.