Advocate seeks to eliminate "discretionary" clauses in Texas health insurance plans.

The Dallas Morning News (12/17, Stutz) reports that "the state's insurance consumer advocate is seeking to eliminate the blanket authority of health and disability insurers to decide what their policies cover, a shift that could have a major impact on health insurance in Texas." Mike Geeslin, Texas' insurance commissioner, has been asked by "Public Insurance Counsel Deeia Beck...to end long-standing provisions in most health plans, called 'discretionary' clauses, that give insurers the right to interpret their policies and decide what benefits must be paid." So far, "twenty-two states have banned the practice, either through state law or new regulations."