Following are the comments Texas Impact submitted in response to the Sunset Commission staff's report on the Texas Department of Insurance and the Office of Public Insurance Counsel.

The formal public comment period on the staff report ended June 9, although members of the public are encouraged to provide comments and suggestions throughout the Sunset process. The public hearing on the Texas Department of Insurance will be held June 24 in Austin in the House Appropriations Committee Room (E1.030) in the Capitol Extension.

Texas Impact appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and Office of Public Insurance Council (OPIC) Sunset Staff Report. We had the opportunity to meet with Sunset staff during their review process, and we appreciate the time the staff took to gather information and perspectives from a variety of sources.

As an interfaith organization advancing a religiously based concern for justice, Texas Impact is most interested in TDI’s regulation of health insurance. While we realize that the overarching problem of lack of health insurance is beyond the scope of the Sunset staff’s report, we wish that the report had given more consideration to the role TDI’s structure and mission could play in generating possibilities for new and creative approaches to improving the private health insurance market in Texas.

Improving the private insurance market would not by itself lead to universal health insurance in Texas, but it would help. Currently, more than 5.5 million Texans lack health insurance and less than 50 percent of Texans have employer-sponsored insurance. If Texas simply rose to the national average for employer-sponsored coverage, one million additional Texans would be insured–about 20 percent of our current uninsured population.

We believe TDI’s minimal involvement in health insurance contributes to a public perception that the state’s social service agencies are the “go-to” agencies for individuals needing health insurance. We submit it would be preferable if most Texans could expect to obtain health insurance through the private market and could rely on TDI to provide the information and guidance they need to navigate the market successfully.

TDI’s self-evaluation report includes a recommendation that the Legislature establish a new health insurance division within the agency. Such a division could provide information to individuals and small businesses, and could work with the Legislature and insurers to develop programs that would help meet the health insurance needs of the millions of Texans (and their employers) who want to purchase health insurance, can afford to pay a reasonable premium, but face any of a number of roadblocks that either leave them uninsured or funnel them into a publicly funded program. Although Sunset staff did not pick up on the recommendation to create a new health insurance division at TDI, we believe it reflects practicality and innovation on the part of TDI staff and we encourage the Commission to give it favorable consideration.

We also encourage the Commission to amend TDI’s mission to reflect more balance between consumer interests and the need to maintain a “level playing field” for the insurance industry. Texas Impact has researched the mission statements of many other state insurance regulatory agencies and we find that a number of other states articulate insurance agency missions that include consumer protection. Texas Impact suggests the following as a starting point for an improved mission statement for TDI:

The mission of the Texas Department of Insurance is to maintain healthy insurance markets in Texas by protecting and assisting consumers, providing fair but vigilant regulation, and promoting a stable and competitive environment for insurers.

Texas Impact disagrees with the Sunset staff recommendation to fold OPIC into TDI, but we agree with the Sunset staff that any decisions about OPIC need to be made in the context of decisions about insurance regulatory policy. Regardless of the eventual disposition of OPIC, Texas Impact sees a need for a clear distinction between the provision of information and assistance to prospective insurance consumers on the one hand, and advocacy for consumers in conflicts involving the insurance industry on the other.

Again, thank you for your work and for the opportunity to participate in Texas’ unique and vibrant Sunset review process.