The Texas House Committee on Pensions, Investments & Financial Services will consider HB 2367 by Rep. Greg Bonnen, MD in a committee hearing on April 18. The bill would prohibit health plans from bidding on the state’s contracts if the plans participate in the practice of dropping a physician from a plan for notifying a patient of the full range of physicians and other providers, including out-of-network providers.

When individuals purchase a PPO product, they have a right to select the facility or provider that they feel is the best for the patient and condition, regardless of their network status. When employers select an insurance plan, they may want to provide their employees with the most choices by paying more for a PPO product. For both individuals and employers, they may be provided a network of providers when they sign up that then changes over time.

Despite the efforts of HB 574 from the 84th Legislature, we are still witnessing cases in which commercial health insurance plans are intimidating physicians into referring patients only to in-network providers. HB 2367 would address this problem.

Click here to read TOA’s support letter.