TAHU Updates from the Capitol September 14, 2020

 

In August, the Texas House of Representatives’ Insurance Committee put out a Request for Information, in lieu of holding an in person Interim Committee Hearing, and invited stakeholder to submit written responses to the RFI. After those are submitted, the committee members will read and review/discuss them as a group in some form. Public hearings are not happening right now at the State Capitol, so the RFI process is the way most committees are approaching their business.

 

Many of the issues they are studying are key priorities to TAHU like implementation of the most recent health care legislation like the surprise billing ban, revised short term plan disclosures and authorization to create a new high risk pool. The Committee is also studying the effects of COVID-19 testing charges, possible price gouging, whether surprise billing is happening for COVID tests and what the ultimate impact on these issues will be on insurance premiums. The Legislative Council met several times to discuss our responses and obtain TAHU membership feedback. We drafted and filed TAHU’s formal written responses last week per the committee’s deadline. You can view the full version of those comments here:    http://meroneypublicaffairs.com/news/tahu-comments-to-house-insurance-on-covid/   http://meroneypublicaffairs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/tahu-submission-to-house-insurance-rfi-charge-1-9-1-20.pdf

 

Questions? Contact your TAHU Lobbyists at:

 

Mike Meroney 512-499-8880 (office) 512-589-2531 (Mike’s mobile) Mike@MeroneyPublicAffairs.com Shannon Meroney 512-499-8880 (office) 512-731-6615 (Shannon’s mobile)  Shannon@MeroneyPublicAffairs.com