Texas House bill would create state-run health insurance exchange
09:58 AM CST on Thursday, January 13, 2011
AUSTIN – A key House GOP health policy writer has filed legislation to create a state-run health insurance exchange in Texas.
A bill by Rep. John Zerwas, R-Katy, would create a Texas Health Insurance Connector, or simplified insurance market.
It would serve as the state's insurance exchange as required under the federal health overhaul passed last year, Zerwas said Thursday.
"My opposition to the federal health care reforms is no secret, and I continue to support Attorney General Greg Abbott's efforts to have the law declared unconstitutional," he said.
"But the ‘connector concept' has been around for decades and did not originate with Obamacare," Zerwas said. "Quite frankly, it is something that we should consider on its own merits regardless of the fate of the federal reforms."
Under the federal law, state exchanges will require insurers to compete in offering standard coverage in five categories. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to compare policies and prices. Exchanges also will help administer federal subsidies to low- and moderate-income individuals and families buying coverage.
Zerwas, an anesthesiologist, stressed that if Texas lawmakers don't act this session, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would set up an insurance exchange for Texas.
He said major lobby groups representing doctors, hospital and big business have endorsed his proposed connector, which would have a seven-member board, including the state social services czar and insurance commissioner.
The governor would name board members, including several from lists submitted by legislative leaders. Some would have to have experience in the health care industry. Others would represent consumers and small business.
It "would supplement, not replace" Texas' existing private market, which served 1.5 million individuals and small businesses with 650,000 employees in 2009, Zerwas said.
Two states already have set up exchanges – and they include conservative Utah as well as liberal Massachussetts, he noted.
Last session, Zerwas was the House's chief social services budget writer. Since last January, he has headed a special panel Speaker Joe Straus created to explore how federal legislation, especially on health care, would affect Texas.
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