Way to be ahead of the curve, y’all. A resolution endorsing the expansion of Medicaid was approved by Texas Medical Association delegates Saturday at the group’s annual meeting in San Antonio. “The patients need the care and, if we pass Medicaid expansion, it will lower our taxes. How can you be against that?” said the [...]
Posts under ‘Show Business for Ugly People’
Another Battleground Texas story
There are three points of interest in this Statesman story about Battleground Texas. Point One: They’ve convinced the people who most needed convincing, the money people and the dedicated volunteers. Battleground Texas quickly won the allegiance of Steve Mostyn and Mary Patrick. Mostyn is a Houston trial lawyer who, with his wife, Amber, is the [...]
Rick Perry feels persecuted by gay people
I got nothin‘. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Sunday that he believes rejecting LGBT people is similar to fighting slavery during the pre-Civil War era. Appearing on the Family Research Council‘s program “Stand With Scouts Sunday,” the arch conservative governor urged the Boy Scouts to stand strong against any impulse to “tear apart” the [...]
A Q&A about the TCDCC
Last week, I introduced you to the Texas County Democratic Campaign Committee (TCDCC), which is focused on recruiting and supporting county-level Democratic candidates outside of our current urban strongholds. It’s an idea and an organization that is long overdue. I wanted to know more about it, so I sent some questions to TCDCC founder Robert [...]
Who’s afraid of Battleground Texas?
The Republican Party of Texas for one, if you believe their fundraising appeals. In a heated fundraising letter sent this week to donors statewide, the Texas GOP calls the new Democratic voter-mobilization effort “a clear and present threat to you and your family.” “They’re coming to take away your guns,” the letter signed by GOP [...]
Some things can’t be rebranded
Louie Gohmert, ladies and gentlemen. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) warned Wednesday that “radical Islamists” are being “trained to act like Hispanic[s]” and cross the U.S.-Mexico border. “We know Al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border,” he said Wednesday on C-Span. “We know that people that [...]
What Obamacare will do for Texas
Even without Medicaid expansion, the Affordable Care Act will help millions of Texans get access to health care. Nearly 2.6 million Texans could qualify for tax credits to purchase health insurance in 2014, according to a report released Thursday by Families USA, a nonprofit that advocates for health care consumers. The tax credits will be [...]
Texas On The Brink 2013
Quantifying what we long suspected to be true. Texas remains behind most other states on issues related to educational achievement, public health and the environment, according to the latest version of the “Texas on the Brink” study released Monday. The sixth edition of the report from the Texas Legislative Study Group, a left-leaning research caucus [...]
At the Battleground Texas kickoff meeting
I attended the Battleground Texas kickoff meeting for Houston on Saturday. Houston was one of the last stops on their statewide introduction tour. I estimated about 300 people in attendance; BGTX gives it as 350, which is probably the more accurate number since they have the sign-in sheets. Numerous elected officials were also in attendance, [...]
Fort Bend County Commissioners Court supports Medicaid expansion
Fort Bend County, y’all. RESOLUTION OF THE FORT BEND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT IN SUPPORT OF EXPANSION OF MEDICAIL) COVERAGE WHEREAS, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured [24%) and underinsured in the United States and 23% of the residents of Fort Bend County are uninsured, and WHEREAS, Expanding Medicaid would ensure 1.5 million more Texans [...]
From the “Turning out more Democratic voters will mean more Democratic votes” department
I think that’s a fair way of characterizing this Texas on the Potomac post. Last November, the Houston Chronicle completed a database analysis of the changing population patterns of the state and the changing voting proclivities of key demographic blocs. Our conclusion: Texas would become competitive by 2020 and a true toss-up state by 2024 [...]
Yes, Rick Perry still hates Medicaid
We’re not surprised by this, right? The Texas rhetoric around a key facet of federal health reform — whether the state will expand subsidized insurance to its poorest adults — reached the high water mark on Monday, with back-to-back press conferences at the Capitol featuring political leaders on both sides of the aisle. Republicans including [...]
The limits of the Arkansas option
I’ve mentioned the Arkansas option for expanding Medicaid several times, under which the state uses Medicaid money to buy private health insurance for those who would be eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It’s not my preferred solution, but it has some merits and would certainly be better than doing nothing. However, while [...]
Feds bypass the state on Title X funds
Very interesting. The federal government announced [Monday] that it would no longer award a large slice of federal family-planning funds to the state of Texas. Instead, the feds will award the $6.5 million grant to the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, a coalition of providers led by Fran Hagerty, to distribute to [...]
The politics of refusing Medicaid expansion
Ron Brownstein posits that by his stubborn and increasingly isolated resistance to Medicaid expansion, including via the Arkansas option, Rick Perry is putting Republicans in electoral danger in Texas. Brownstein runs through the economic arguments and touches on the legislative action so far, then gets to the big finish: Rejecting the federal money might not [...]
Don’t forget about apartments
On the subject of how Battleground Texas can achieve its aims, Greg adds a note and some numbers about apartment complexes. I opted to look at one of the most GOP-friendly places in Harris County: HD130 in the northwestern corner of the county. Simply put, this district won’t be turning blue with anything short of [...]
Businesses say they want Medicaid expansion, too
This really comes down to two things. Chambers of commerce representing companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) are challenging Texas Governor Rick Perry and lawmakers to expand health care for the poor in the state with the highest percentage of uninsured people. The chambers of five cities are sending lobbyists [...]
Two hot topics that stay hot together
You got your Medicaid expansion in my Latino outreach efforts! For Republicans nationally, the big takeaway from the 2012 presidential election was that, as a party, they have to get right — or at least do better — with Hispanic voters. With the opening of the 83rd legislative session, the lessons of the 2012 election [...]
A word with Bird
The Observer interviews Jeremy Bird, the head honcho of Battleground Texas. Texas Observer: Why Texas? Why not Battleground Georgia or Battleground Indiana? Jeremy Bird: One reason is staffers from Texas, whether it’s organizers in battleground states who are from Texas or just the people in our organization who had either worked in Texas during the [...]
The Equality 2013 Poll
From Equality Texas: The Equality Texas Foundation envisions a state where all Texans are treated equally, with dignity and respect. Equal rights for all are fundamental to our society and are long overdue. Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, deserves to be treated fairly and equally. Many of these equal rights issues are [...]
More counties for Medicaid expansion
All of these are from last week. Bexar County: On a bipartisan vote, Bexar County commissioners Tuesday urged Texas lawmakers to expand the state’s Medicaid program and take advantage of federal matching funds under the Affordable Care Act. “From 2014 to 2017, expansion will bring $27.2 billion in federal revenue to Texas for just over [...]
More concern of convenience
David Dewhurst channels Dan Patrick. Dewhurst, noting his differing view from Straus, said he’s a product of public schools and wants to support them, but said he doesn’t want to leave an estimated 315,000 Texas students in academically unacceptable schools. “I’m mad. I’m mad as hell about that,” Dewhurst said, adding that it takes on [...]
The mouth that roared
I have two things to say about Ted Cruz. Cruz’s fans, and there are many, compare him to Ronald Reagan, who happens to be the 42-year-old senator’s boyhood hero. Cruz’s detractors, and there are many, compare him to Joe McCarthy, the controversial Wisconsin senator known for smearing his foes by innuendo and questioning their patriotism. [...]
The birth control poll
The Texas Freedom Network would like you to know that Texans support having access to birth control. A new statewide poll from the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund shows Texans believe that access to family planning and birth control is important and should not be limited by a woman’s income level, employer or medical provider. [...]
TMA sort of endorses Medicaid expansion
Hard to say what this means. Trustees of the Texas Medical Association passed a resolution urging state leaders to snare all federal Medicaid matching dollars that are on the table. The group hinged its support, though, on simultaneous actions by state officials to make doctors’ participation in Medicaid more palatable and federal dispensations of flexibility [...]
Medicaid expansion still a big underdog in Texas
Ed Kilgore sees good things in a poll about expanding Medicaid. But even in Texas, a new survey sponsored by the American Cancer Society Action Network has found, there’s strong majority support for the Medicaid expansion. The survey extended to seven states that have been mulling the subject (in one, New Mexico, Gov. Susan Martinez [...]
Smaller WHP provider list back up
Maybe they got it right this time. A revised list of Texas Women’s Health Program providers — with 965 fewer doctors and clinics — has returned to the state’s website. [...] The HHSC had previously stated that the Texas WHP had 3,500 participating providers, roughly 1,000 more than the number of providers that participated in [...]
Optimism abounds at inauguration time
Inauguration time is always a good time to be optimistic. Texas Democrats haven’t had a lot to cheer about in recent years. As San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is quick to remind you, the political score in Texas is 29-0. In favor of the Republicans. That means 29 Republicans in statewide offices; zero Democrats. But [...]
The state begins preparing its excuses for its WHP screwup
The fail is strong in this one. State health officials continue to insist that they have signed up more than enough providers to replace Planned Parenthood across most of Texas. Areas of limited coverage — including San Angelo, Corsicana and Paris — are being scoured to find health care providers willing to join the Women’s [...]
Where are the doctors?
The Morning News tries to verify that the Dallas-area providers listed for the new Texas Women’s Health Program are in fact providing health care services to the women in this program as advertised. It goes about as well as you’d expect. A Dallas Morning News survey of 336 contacts listed online for the program showed [...]