TMA Legislative News Hotline

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 

Texas Senate in Tail Spin
The Texas Senate has spent the past two days adopting rules that would govern the Senate during the rest of the 2009 legislative session. The most contentious rule of the Senate was the number of votes needed to bring up a bill for debate and a vote. Traditionally the Senate rule was that two-thirds must agree before a measure can be brought up. However, that changed yesterday. After hours of heated debate, the Senate voted to change that rule for one issue - voter ID legislation. The final vote was 18-13 with almost all Republicans voting along party lines. Stay tuned.

U.S. House Passes CHIP Legislation
The U.S. House passed legislation yesterday to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The measure would provide CHIP coverage to 3.9 million more children and preserve the coverage for 6.7 million children already enrolled in CHIP. The program's authorization expires on March 31, 2009, if not passed. Unfortunately, the bill also includes provisions that would place restrictions on physician ownership of hospitals. The bill raises the cigarette tax by 61 cents to fund the CHIP reauthorization and expansion. Look for more details in TMA's Action newsletter in the next few days.

TMA Legislative Priority: Accountability for Out-of-Network Services
Employers and patients pay steadily rising health insurance premiums. In exchange, health plans promise a comprehensive network of physicians, and payment for out-of-network medical expenses. When health plans break one or both promises, which happens often, it dramatically increases the out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

Texas must hold health plans accountable for providing comprehensive networks of physicians. We should give the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) authority to hold health plans accountable for developing adequate networks.

TMA opposes health plans' attempts to prohibit balance billing or to establish wholly inadequate payment rates for non-network physicians and hospitals.

TDI needs authority to require health plans to disclose the methods and data they used to set "maximum allowable" amounts.

See all of TMA's legislative issue briefs in the Governmental Affairs section of the TMA Web site.

How You Can Make a Difference
TMA members are critical to the association's successful grassroots lobbying efforts. Only you can give your legislator an accurate picture of Texas' health care crisis and how it is affecting the patients in your community. Here are some tips to ensure your lobbying makes a big impact.

  • Build a relationship. Making contact repeatedly and being credible and reasonable every time will help build a relationship between you and your legislator.
  • One issue at a time. Every communication - telephone, written, or personal visit - should stick to one issue.
  • Know your issue and bring effective handouts. Present your opinion and back it up with facts - background information, including statistics and studies - that support your point of view. Know the opposing arguments and frequently asked questions and have answers ready to go.
  • Use personal anecdotes. Nothing drives home the importance of an issue like a personal story from you, your practice, and your patients
  • Offer solutions. Don't talk about how bad a problem is; tell your legislator what you'd like to see done to fix it.

For more tips on how to lobby your legislator effectively, go to TMA's Web site.

Physician of the Day
David Greer, MD, of Henrietta is the physician of the day. He graduated from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1964. Dr. Greer is a member of TMA and Wichita-Archer-Baylor-Clay County Medical Society.

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Learn more about TMA’s priority issues for the 81st Texas Legislature.

              Improving the Health of All Texans
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