He sure does his dangedest to invite it. Perry, a Republican, has vowed not to expand Medicaid and not to create an insurance exchange. Consumer advocates in Texas say the Perry administration has also been dragging its feet when it comes to insurance rate review. To make insurance more affordable, the federal law requires every state to conduct [...]
Posts Tagged ‘health care’
Medicaid expansion isn’t just about hospitals
Grits has an insight. At [last] Monday’s House County Affairs hearing, Chairman Garnet Coleman noted the irony in response to testimony by witnesses regarding the effectiveness of Veterans Courts, which are essentially mental-health courts aimed at current and former military members. Citing the example of a mentally ill veteran coming back from Afghanistan who, as a [...]
Medicaid expansion: Not as expensive as the state claimed it would be
Remember last year when the state Health and Human Services Commission claimed that Medicaid expansion would cost the state of Texas $27 billion over ten years, causing every Republican in the state to have a fainting spell and a hissy fit about how that would bankrupt us all? Turns out that estimate was a wee [...]
We’re #50!
The state of Texas is dead last in delivering health care. The 2011 State Snapshots report is based on 155 quality measures gathered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The measures include disease prevention efforts, deaths from various conditions as well as infant [...]
One million uninsured kids
One point two million uninsured kids in Texas, actually. But who’s counting? More than 1 million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need. The startling condition of the state’s children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The [...]
Perry’s empty promise on the Women’s Health Program
Our Governor talks big, but his words have no meaning. The state will find the cash to continue a women’s health program whose federal funding is threatened because of a decision to keep Planned Parenthood from participating, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. “We’re going to fund this program,” Perry said. “Listen, we’ll find the money. [...]
Millions more Texans will have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act
Can’t happen soon enough. The percentage of Texans with health insurance will increase to 91 percent – up from 74 percent today – after the national health care law takes effect in 2014, the state’s Medicaid director told lawmakers Monday. [...] An estimated 2.3 million Texans will still lack health insurance after the Affordable Care [...]
A place to start
At least one elected Republican is feeling a bit angsty about the Republican war on women’s health. For some GOP lawmakers, the issue gets deeply personal, and the line between party loyalty, allegiance to anti-abortion politics and public health is a tough balancing act. State Rep. Sarah Davis, a first-term Republican lawmaker from Houston, said [...]
National single payer health care conference in Houston this weekend
From the inbox: Healthcare-NOW! National Single Payer Strategy Conference in Houston WHAT: Over 120 Representatives from 25 states and 52 organizations meet in Houston to plan strategies to advance a single payer national health insurance plan in the USA. The best health care system plan for accessible, cost-effective, equitable and high quality health care is [...]
We’re #12!
The twelfth most obese state in the country, that is. They say everything’s bigger in Texas — and apparently, that includes the people. Texas ranks as the 12th most obese state in the U.S., according to a new study by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study found that — [...]
From the “Get your government out of my Medicare” files
This ought to be fun. Across the nation, U.S. House Republicans are getting an earful from their constituents about a GOP budget proposal to overhaul Medicare, the federal health care program that insures the elderly. The Republican plan, written by Wisconsin Rep. Paul D. Ryan as part of his sweeping budget overhaul, would turn Medicare [...]
Hospital infections
There’s something missing from this story. Do you know what it is? The most common hospital-contracted malady among older patients in Houston is systemic vascular infections, a problem often caused by unsanitary or improper procedures during their hospital stay, a new study of Medicare claims shows. Among 46 hospitals within a 50-mile radius of the [...]
Arizona Congresswoman shot
Horrible. Six people were killed and 12 others wounded — including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — in a shooting outside a Tucson, Arizona, grocery store where the congresswoman was holding a constituent meeting, police said. The suspect in the shooting was in custody, according to U.S. Capitol Police, who did not identify the alleged gunman. [...]
You can cut services, but you can’t reduce the demand for them
Another look at what we’ll be facing next year. With state leaders saying the November election sent a no-new-taxes, lean-government message, no program is expected to escape the knife – including education and health and human services, which take up the bulk of state dollars. For some programs, the budget crunch will mean spending cuts. [...]
Hobby and Ellis on Medicaid
State Sen. Rodney Ellis and former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby lay out the reasons why quitting Medicaid would be a disaster for the state. Texas already has the unfortunate distinction of having the highest uninsured population in the country. It is estimated that providing care to the uninsured costs the insured family $1,500 dollars annually [...]
More pushback from the medical community on Medicaid
Doctors and medical associations had a big effect on public opinion during the fight over the Affordable Care Act. We’ll see whether that is true during the fight over Medicaid. “Unless our state leaders can come up with a financing plan to replace the current Medicaid structure that’s even better than what we have now, [...]
Medicaid: Ideologues versus experts
The fascinating thing in this story about the Republican plan to kill Medicaid is just how half-baked the idea is. GOP Gov. Rick Perry, fresh off a big re-election win and touting his new book on states’ rights, is among those who say it’s a good idea. The election results — which included a huge [...]
Who needs Medicaid?
Here’s an early peek at what we have to look forward to next year. Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program. Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in post-victory news [...]
Interview with State Rep. Garnet Coleman
State Rep. Garnet Coleman of HD147 is one of my favorite elected officials anywhere. A 20-year veteran of the House and a member of the House leadership team, he’s a strong progressive advocate and a policy wonk who’s always on top of current issues. He’s a regular source of detailed information about federal legislation that [...]
You think there might be a connection there?
In the middle of this Trib story about the Driver Responsibility Program and the Lege’s efforts to reform it comes a reminder about the relationship between federal and state legislation. Denise Rose, senior director of government relations at the Texas Hospital Association, says she doesn’t anticipate the new rules will have a large fiscal impact [...]
In case you need a reminder to vote this November
What we have to look forward to in Austin next year if nothing changes. Legislators next year will face severe budget problems, divisive redistricting, school funding troubles and reviews of major state agencies, including the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of Insurance. “We are going to have a very tough session,” [...]
Start stocking up on those forever stamps
They’re about to be a bargain. Fighting to survive a deepening financial crisis, the Postal Service said Tuesday it wants to increase the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents — to 46 cents — starting in January. Other postage costs would rise as well. [...] While the cost of a first-class stamp would go [...]
The Rasmussen problem
Jonathan Chait discusses the “Rasmussen problem”, which basically boils down to the fact that Rasmussen’s polls have become rather extreme outliers, and they all seem to serve a narrative about the country taking a sharp pro-conservative, anti-Obama turn. As Nate Silver has pointed out, Rasmussen’s “house effect” can’t be explained by a likely voter model [...]