The bill, titled "Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program," aims to establish a new program under the Texas Insurance Code to analyze the potential impacts of legislative mandates on health benefit plan issuers and administrators. It introduces a new subchapter, Subchapter J, which defines key terms such as "analysis program," "enrollee," and "health benefit plan issuer." The Center for Health Care Data at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is designated to oversee the program, which will prepare analyses of proposed legislation that could impose new mandates on health coverage. The bill also outlines the process for requesting analyses, the criteria for impact assessments, and the timeline for reporting findings.

To fund the program, the bill authorizes the comptroller to assess an annual fee on health benefit plan issuers, excluding those operating solely as Medicaid managed care organizations. The fee will be adjusted biennially to account for implementation costs and any deficits. Additionally, the bill mandates that the center develop a cost estimate for the program's initial fiscal biennium and establish the program by January 1, 2026. The comptroller is also required to adopt rules for administering the fee by the same date. The act will take effect immediately upon receiving a two-thirds vote from both houses or on September 1, 2025, if that threshold is not met.

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