Rep. Jim Jackson Pre-Files Bills Protecting Children And Medical Patients

[Press Release from State Rep. Jim Jackson (R-Carrollton).]

State Representative Jim Jackson (R-Carrollton) took advantage of opening day for pre-filing legislation that will be considered by the Texas Legislature during its 80th Regular Session, beginning on Tuesday, January 9, 2006.  Monday, November 13, 2006, is the first day members of the State Legislature can begin pre-filing bills for consideration in the upcoming Regular Session.  Rep. Jackson stated, “During the interim, my staff and I have been diligently working on bills which I hope will bring solutions to some of the problems faced by the constituents of District 115 as well as all Texans.”

Rep. Jackson stated, “One of the most important bills I have authored for the 140-day session is  House Bill 140.  H.B. 140, if passed by the Legislature, would require the imposition of additional background and criminal history check requirements for day-care centers.”  Rep. Jackson continued, “There was an incident in Dallas County where a child died because of lack of responsibility by a day-care center owner.  The child was left in a van during the heat of the day last summer and as a result, the child died.  The owner of the day-care center caused the child to be removed from the van and put against a tree in a park and said the child was found unconscious in the park.  However, it was found that the owner was lying and should not have been working with children because of a criminal background that was not exposed because the person used false identity.  Rep. Jackson stated, “We need to protect our children from criminals.”

Currently, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has the authority to do background name checks on individuals applying for a license to operate a day-care center.  Rep. Jackson’s bill will expand it to include all employees of a day-care center and will further require the director, owner, or operator of a day-care center to submit a complete set of fingerprints of each person whose name is submitted by the applicant.  Also, the owner or operator may not operate the day-care center without a qualified director.  Non-compliance will result in a Class B misdemeanor.

“Hopefully, with the passage of House Bill 140 by the Legislature, our children will not be subject to criminals with false identities.  The bill should help parents safeguard their children while in the care of others,” Rep. Jackson said.

In response to another constituent problem, Rep. Jackson filed legislation regarding out-of-network balance billing.  A person who has surgery and assumes insurance will cover it, since the surgeon is in-network, may have an unwelcome surprise after arriving home.  The person may receive bills from the anesthesiologist and the pathologist who were involved with the surgery, but were not in the insurance network.  The insurance paid is for an out-of-network provider and the charges are not limited to the schedule of an in-network provider.  Many times this leaves the patient with a large financial responsibility that is unexpected because the primary provider who they chose was in-network and they were not aware of the in-network provider using assistance with out-of-network providers.

H.B. 140, filed by Rep. Jackson says that a participating provider (a healthcare provider who has contracted with a health benefit plan issuer to provide services to enrollees) shall provide written notice to an enrollee if it refers an enrollee to an out-of-network provider, is a health care facility that has contracted for services with an out-of-network provider or providers including emergency room personnel, a radiologist, an anesthesiologist, a pathologist, or another physician who is an out-of-network provider; and, is to provide services to the enrollee as a patient of the facility; or otherwise arranges for health care services for the enrollee through an out-of-network provider.  A health care provider may elect to provide the notice required.  The notice must substantially comply with certain requirements and must disclose the out-of-network provider.  The notice must include a signature line for the enrollee to sign to acknowledge receipt of the notice and must be provided to an enrollee before services are provided to the enrollee.  If the notice is not provided as required by this legislation, the out-of-network provider may not charge the enrollee for any portion of that provider’s fee that is not paid by the enrollee’s managed care plan.  An exception is provided for an emergency situation.  Upon passage by both Houses of the legislature, the bill takes effect on September 1, 2007.