NEWS

THE SOLUTION

The Solution

The Texas Hospital Association believes that the Texas Legislature should enact health insurance reforms now and get more Texans covered. With the Texas Department of Insurance under sunset review in 2009, the Legislature has the opportunity to remove regulatory barriers that contribute to making health insurance coverage unaffordable or inaccessible. This in turn can reduce the number of uninsured Texans through the private market. Specifically, THA urges the Legislature to:

• Remove the age limitations in the Insurance Code to allow a parent or grandparent to buy coverage for an adult child/grandchild;
• Require college students to be covered and universities to make affordable health insurance policies available to students;
• Require health insurers to report annually to TDI on what they are doing to expand coverage to the uninsured;
• Require greater transparency from health plans regarding their business practices;
• Establish licensure requirements for preferred provider organizations and require the TDI to oversee and regulate these health plans’ activities;
• Supplement current insurance companies’ funding of the state’s High Risk Pool to make premiums more affordable for individuals who cannot obtain coverage elsewhere;
• Establish a business tax credit for companies that provide health insurance for their employees;
• Create a reinsurance system to help small businesses and their employees access lower-cost health insurance;
• Restrict Texas Enterprise Fund monies to companies that provide their employees with meaningful health insurance coverage; and
• Level the playing field so that businesses that help pay for employee health coverage aren’t penalized in bidding for government contracts.

View “Face the Crisis” – a video about the uninsured crisis
in Texas.