HBA-MSH, CCH H.B. 1156 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1156 By: Coleman Public Health 2/27/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Texas Department of Health (TDH) estimates that 164,000 women per year receive Medicaid-funded women's health services, which include physical examinations, laboratory testing, counseling on contraception, and breast and cervical cancer screening. To be eligible for these services, a woman must be less than 60 days postpartum and have a family income below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, or either be receiving financial assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or be enrolled in a transitional Medicaid welfare-to-work program. TDH also approximates that an additional 300,000 women receive women's heath services funded by the family planning services project grant, the social services block grant, and the maternal and child health block grant. TDH estimates that an additional one million uninsured working women with family incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level do not have regular access to women's health services. Expanding Medicaid coverage for women's health services to all women between the ages of 13 and 44 years old with family incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level will allow an additional 600,000 women access to these services, according to TDH projections. TDH expects to realize cost savings through this expansion by averting Medicaid- funded pregnancies. House Bill 1156 sets the income eligibility cap for medical assistance for women's preventive health and family planning services at 185 percent of the federal poverty level. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1156 amends the Human Resources Code to require the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to set the income eligibility cap for medical assistance at 185 percent of the federal poverty level for women's preventive health and family planning services. The bill also requires HHSC to compile a list of potential funding sources a client can use to help pay for treatment for health problems identified using preventive health services provided under the medical assistance program for which the client is not eligible to receive treatment under the program. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.