Bill Text: TX HB1649 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Bill 1649

Bill Title: Relating to health benefit coverage for certain fertility preservation services and notice regarding certain risks of impaired fertility.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-13 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB1649 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1649-Enrolled.html



	H.B. No. 1649




	AN ACT
	relating to health benefit coverage for certain fertility
	preservation services and notice regarding certain risks of
	impaired fertility.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended
	by adding Subchapter X to read as follows:
	SUBCHAPTER X. INFORMATION REGARDING RISK OF IMPAIRED FERTILITY FROM
	CANCER TREATMENTS
	Sec. 161.681. NOTICE FOR CHILDREN RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY OR
	RADIATION. (a) A health care facility at which a child will begin
	receiving chemotherapy or radiation that may directly or indirectly
	cause impaired fertility must, before the treatment begins, notify
	the child's parents or legal guardians of the risk of impaired
	fertility from treatment.
	(b) The department shall develop and make available a
	written notice for a health care facility to use for purposes of
	this section.
	SECTION 2. Chapter 1366, Insurance Code, is amended by
	adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
	SUBCHAPTER C. COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN FERTILITY PRESERVATION SERVICES
	Sec. 1366.101. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "fertility
	preservation services":
	(1) means the collection and preservation of sperm,
	unfertilized oocytes, and ovarian tissue; and
	(2) does not include the storage of such unfertilized
	genetic materials.
	Sec. 1366.102. APPLICABILITY OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) This
	subchapter applies only to a health benefit plan that provides
	benefits for medical or surgical expenses incurred as a result of a
	health condition, accident, or sickness, including an individual,
	group, blanket, or franchise insurance policy or insurance
	agreement, a group hospital service contract, or an individual or
	group evidence of coverage or similar coverage document that is
	issued in this state by:
	(1) an insurance company;
	(2) a group hospital service corporation operating
	under Chapter 842;
	(3) a health maintenance organization operating under
	Chapter 843;
	(4) an approved nonprofit health corporation that
	holds a certificate of authority under Chapter 844;
	(5) a multiple employer welfare arrangement that holds
	a certificate of authority under Chapter 846;
	(6) a stipulated premium company operating under
	Chapter 884;
	(7) a fraternal benefit society operating under
	Chapter 885;
	(8) a Lloyd's plan operating under Chapter 941; or
	(9) an exchange operating under Chapter 942.
	(b) Notwithstanding any other law, this subchapter applies
	to:
	(1) a small employer health benefit plan subject to
	Chapter 1501, including coverage provided through a health group
	cooperative under Subchapter B of that chapter; and
	(2) a standard health benefit plan issued under
	Chapter 1507.
	Sec. 1366.103. EXCEPTIONS. This subchapter does not apply
	to:
	(1) a health benefit plan that provides coverage:
	(A) for wages or payments in lieu of wages for a
	period during which an employee is absent from work because of
	sickness or injury; or
	(B) only for hospital expenses;
	(2) Medicaid managed care programs operated under
	Chapter 533, Government Code;
	(3) Medicaid programs operated under Chapter 32, Human
	Resources Code; or
	(4) the state child health plan operated under Chapter
	62 or 63, Health and Safety Code.
	Sec. 1366.104. REQUIRED COVERAGE. (a) Subject to
	Subsection (b), a health benefit plan must provide coverage for
	fertility preservation services to a covered person who will
	receive a medically necessary treatment for cancer, including
	surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, that the American Society of
	Clinical Oncology or the American Society for Reproductive Medicine
	has established may directly or indirectly cause impaired
	fertility.
	(b) The fertility preservation services described by
	Subsection (a) must be standard procedures to preserve fertility
	consistent with established medical practices or professional
	guidelines published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology
	or the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
	SECTION 3. Subchapter X, Chapter 161, Health and Safety
	Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a child who will begin
	chemotherapy or radiation on or after the effective date of this
	Act.
	SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 1366, Insurance Code, as
	added by this Act, applies only to a health benefit plan that is
	delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1,
	2024.
	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.


	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House


	I certify that H.B. No. 1649 was passed by the House on May 6,
	2023, by the following vote: Yeas 104, Nays 31, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 1649 on May 25, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 114, Nays 30,
	1 present, not voting.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House

	I certify that H.B. No. 1649 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 23, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 27, Nays
	4.

	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date

	__________________
	Governor