Bill Text: GA HB1264 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Juvenile Justice, Department of; collect medical insurance reimbursement; authorize
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 5-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-09 - House Second Readers [HB1264 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2009-HB1264-Introduced.html
10 LC
35 1717
House
Bill 1264
By:
Representatives Pruett of the
144th,
Horne of the
71st,
Barnard of the
166th,
Cox of the
102nd,
Martin of the
47th,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 4A of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the Department of Juvenile Justice, so as to authorize the Department of
Juvenile Justice to collect individual medical insurance reimbursement for a
juvenile in the custody of the department who is covered by medical insurance or
other benefits; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to
repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
4A of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
Department of Juvenile Justice, is amended by adding a new Code section to read
as follows:
"49-4A-15.
(a)
As used in this Code section, the term:
(1)
'Covered' means a juvenile who is insured under existing individual or family
health insurance, group health insurance, or prepaid medical care coverage or is
eligible for benefits under any federal or state medical care benefits
program.
(2)
'Custodian' means a parent or legal guardian or other person who stands in loco
parentis to the juvenile or a person to whom legal custody of the juvenile has
been given by order of a court or a public or private agency or other private
organization licensed or otherwise authorized by law to receive and provide care
for a child to which legal custody of the child has been given by order of a
court.
(3)
'Juvenile' means a delinquent or unruly child who is under the age of 18 and
detained in a juvenile detention facility by reason of being directed by a court
or other local public authority for an act of delinquency, the commission of a
crime, or other reason.
(4)
'Juvenile detention facility' means a detention facility controlled or operated
by the department which maintains custody of juveniles, including institutions,
youth detention centers, camps, or other detention facilities used for the
detention of juveniles.
(5)
'Medical care' means medical, dental, mental health, and optometry treatment,
including physical or mental health therapy, prescribed medicine, professional
services, and prosthetics, and all necessary and associated services incidental
to treatment such as transportation, hospitalization, and security.
(6)
'Officer in charge' means the superintendent or other person, or his or her
designee, having executive supervision of any juvenile detention
facility.
(b)
The officer in charge may obtain or require a juvenile or his or her custodian
or any state or local agency to furnish the following information:
(1)
The existence of any medical care insurance, group health plan, prepaid medical
care coverage, or state or federal medical care benefit program under which the
juvenile is covered;
(2)
The eligibility for benefits to which the juvenile is entitled;
(3)
The name and address of the third-party payor; and
(4)
The policy or other identifying number.
(c)
The officer in charge shall provide a sick, injured, or disabled juvenile access
to medical care and may arrange for the juvenile's medical care insurance
carrier or benefits program to pay the medical care provider for the medical
care rendered. Any medical care insurance or benefits program covering a
juvenile shall reimburse the department as requested by the officer in charge
for any payments made by the department on behalf of a juvenile which were
covered by insurance, a benefit program, or other medical care coverage. The
Department of Juvenile Justice shall be subrogated to the rights of a juvenile
to recover an amount not to exceed the costs to the department for providing
medical care to such juvenile.
(d)
The liability for payment for medical care described under this Code section
shall not be construed as requiring payment by any person or entity, except by a
juvenile personally, by his or her lawful custodian, or by such insurance
carrier or coverage program providing coverage or benefits for the juvenile or
at the direction of the Department of Community Health or other agency
administering such coverage benefits.
(e)
Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to relieve the governing
authority, governmental unit, subdivision, or agency having the physical custody
of a juvenile from its responsibility to pay for any medical care rendered to
such juvenile."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2010.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.
