HB 1919 – This bill expands the existing mandated benefit for treatment of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) to include outpatient day treatment services or other equivalent post-acute care treatment services.

With most companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, outpatient day treatment service and other post-acute care treatment services had been covered under the existing ABI benefit provisions. In order to completely comply with the new law, amendments have been developed to expand and include these services into the definition of ABI.

HB 2548 – Currently, members receive pre-existing credit for prior group, government or church coverage when purchasing an individual health policy. This bill provides the same credit for an individual policy and now allows the member to transfer credit from one individual policy to another.

Companies that haven’t made this change will be sending out amendments to insureds.  Some companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, made this administrative change already.  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas made the change effective July 1, 2007, prior to the passing of this bill and amendments have been developed to align the policy language to the new law/procedural change already implemented.

The legislation also provides a 0.5 percent increase for Medicare doctors for six months, delaying a scheduled 10 percent pay cut.

Bush twice vetoed more ambitious earlier bills that would have expanded the children’s health program to cover about 10 million children in low and moderate income families, despite bipartisan support.

Bush and Democrats have been locked in a fight over budget and spending and the president said the previous bills were too costly and would push more children into government-run health care instead of private health insurance plans.