Texas Tackles WC Reform As Expenses Soar

Texas Tackles WC Reform As Expenses Soar

Legislators seek certified medical networks to help restrain out-of-control costs

The Texas Legislature's effort to reform the state's ailing workers' compensation system has been moving so quickly that a final measure might come up for a vote perhaps as soon as April, one insurance trade group says.

Bills in both the Texas Senate and House “appear to be on a fairly fast track,” said Joe Woods, assistant regional vice president for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America in the group's Austin office.

He guessed that the earliest a measure could be approved is by mid-April, although he noted the timetable would be affected by how quickly legislators can deal with the thorny question of public school financing, which is first on their agenda.

On Feb.15, just six days after it was filed, the Texas House Business and Industry Committee heard six hours of testimony on HB 7a 298-page piece of comp legislation introduced by Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton. Only two of the 24 speakers voiced opposition to the measure.

Rep. Solomons' bill like its Senate counterpart, SB 5, introduced on Jan. 13 by Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine would provide for certified medical networks to treat injured workers.

One of the points of difference between the two bills is how to handle the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission. Rep. Solomons' bill would abolish it, while Sen. Staples' measure would replace the six part-time, voluntary commissioners with one full-time staff commissioner.

Rep. Solomons heads the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, which examined the TWCC last year and concluded the agency should be eliminated and its duties passed on to the state insurance department. His bill embodied that and other commission recommendations.

When the House bill was filed, the commission had no immediate comment. However, TWCC Chairman Mike Hachtman issued a statement last September questioning the commission proposals. He said then that there was nothing in the insurance department's “mission, goals or vision remotely close to administering workers' compensation.”

House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said Rep. Solomons' bill is a start to “reform a crippled system.” The announcement of the bill noted that in a comparison of 12 states, workers' comp medical costs in Texas were 78 percent higher than the median, while indemnity benefits were rising steeply.

Sen. Staples, in a statement commenting on the introduction of the House bill, said there was clear consensus from the various committees that have examined the workers' comp system that major changes need to be made. He said he looked forward to “working with our colleagues in the Senate and in the House to examine in even greater detail what changes need to be made.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 4, 2005. Copyright 2005 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.