Tag Archives: health insurance

The working poor are pretty much screwed in Texas

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

These are the people that Rick Perry doesn’t care about. Jose Gallegos’ company eliminated employee health insurance to save money, so when his gut started hurting and his skin took on a yellow tinge, he resisted seeing a doctor. When … Continue reading →

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Rick Perry must love federal intervention

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Medicaid expansion isn’t just about hospitals

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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. … Continue reading →

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Perry versus the insurance companies

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Quien es mas macho? Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he rejects the “Obamacare power grab” and will block measures expanding health insurance to millions in his state. The country’s second-biggest health insurer is betting he won’t succeed. The same day … Continue reading →

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Medicaid expansion: Not as expensive as the state claimed it would be

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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No Medicaid expansion for you!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

So much for that. Texas will not expand Medicaid or establish a health insurance exchange, two major tenets of the federal health reform that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld last month, Gov. Rick Perry said in an early morning announcement. … Continue reading →

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We’re #50!

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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What will Texas do now?

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Now that the Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court, there are two big issues that Texas will have to face. (*) One is the health care exchanges, and the other is Medicaid expansion, now that there’s … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS upholds Obamacare

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You can read the decision here. I’ll skip the analysis, since you can find a link to someone saying something about it on approximately 97% of the Internet today, but I will give a few links of my own, to … Continue reading →

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Another way Obamacare is helping Texas right now

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Insurance rebates. Texas consumers and businesses are poised to receive an estimated $186 million in rebates from health insurers under a requirement of the Affordable Care Act, according a study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The health care act’s medical loss … Continue reading →

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Brown’s staff departures

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Normally there’s nothing terribly newsworthy about a couple of Council staffers moving on, but there’s never been anything normal about CM Helena Brown’s office. Councilwoman Helena Brown’s two highest-ranking staff members have resigned less than four months into her two-year … Continue reading →

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One million uninsured kids

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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All the “news” that fits, we print

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve heard of slow news days before, but this is ridiculous. State Comptroller Susan Combs trumpeted a survey Tuesday showing – as she wrote in the forward to a 15-page report – that a mere 3.4 percent of employers surveyed … Continue reading →

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Electing educators

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This sounds good, but there are a couple of things missing. More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized … Continue reading →

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Millions more Texans will have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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. … Continue reading →

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A place to start

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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The feds will run Texas’ health insurance exchange

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

That seems to be where we’re headed. Texas is almost alone among the nation’s largest states in failing to start work on a key piece of the Affordable Care Act, as legislators and state agencies follow Gov. Rick Perry’s wish … Continue reading →

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Brown’s part time staff

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You have to admit, she does things her way. Houston District A Councilwoman Helena Brown, whose lone “no” votes against city spending have differentiated her from the rest of the 17-member council, also is an outlier as an employer: She … Continue reading →

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Help me, Long-Range Financial Management Task Force! You’re our only hope!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Having some Jedi mind tricks available to deal with this probably wouldn’t hurt. About one out of every 11 dollars in this year’s city budget goes to cover pension costs. The $165 million the city plans to send to its … Continue reading →

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National single payer health care conference in Houston this weekend

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Help keep access to birth control

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, it’s been a rough year for advocates of reproductive freedom, here and elsewhere in the country. There’s a lot of work to be done, starting with the next election, to repair the damage and move things forward … Continue reading →

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Still more evidence that tort “reform” is a scam

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Recently, I blogged about a Public Citizen report that documented the ways in which tort “reform”, specifically medical malpractice damage caps, are a scam that has done none of the things its backers promised. You might have read that and … Continue reading →

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Tort “reform” is still a scam

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as shocked as you are. A national report released Wednesday says the 2003 Texas law that limited damage awards in malpractice suits has caused health care spending to rise and has not significantly increased the number of … Continue reading →

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Rick Perry must love uninsured people, because he’s helped create so many of them

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Buried in this story about the grim statistics on poverty that were recently released by the Census is this little nugget that hits close to home: Health insurance coverage also dropped for most age groups, although census officials said the … Continue reading →

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SuperCommittee!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Up, up, and away! A group of 16 elected officials, community leaders, union bosses and pension executives have until Jan. 31 to find ways to tackle the triple threat to the city’s future solvency — ballooning pension obligations, runaway health … Continue reading →

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RIP, health exchange bill

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t say this is a surprise. State Rep. John Zerwas, the Simonton Republican who has filed legislation to implement one of the key elements of federal health care reform, said his bill may be permanently stuck. Zerwas, who proposed establishing … Continue reading →

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There is a solution for this

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Yet it manages to go completely unmentioned in this story. The Harris County Hospital District has begun turning away uninsured patients from other counties who show up in its facilities and do not need urgent care, unless they pay cash … Continue reading →

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No, he can’t

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This week, President Obama gave Republican critics of the Affordable Care Act a way out, if they met certain conditions. President Obama, who has stood by his landmark health care law through court attacks and legislative efforts to repeal it, … Continue reading →

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If it weren’t for Obama, we wouldn’t be having this conversation

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. John Zerwas writes an op-ed extolling the virtues of the health insurance exchange bill he’s filed. While it is no secret that I oppose the federal health care reform bill, if we don’t act now to create the Texas … Continue reading →

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The Affordable Care Act will help millions of Texans

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

So says the Texas Department of Insurance. Even as Texas leaders rail against the national health care law and call for its repeal, the state Department of Insurance has issued a report that says the law will make it easier … Continue reading →

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Insurance exchanges

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This will be worth watching. One of the GOP’s leading healthcare experts in the House – Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton – introduced a bill Thursday to create a health insurance exchange in Texas. The exchanges, which are required in the … Continue reading →

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New flash: Dropping Medicaid would be bad

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t take my word for it, take the Texas Department of Health and Human Services’ word for it. Opting out of federal Medicaid, something Republican leaders have been considering as a method to wipe out Texas’ estimated $25 billion budget … Continue reading →

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Hobby and Ellis on Medicaid

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Because that’s who he is

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Before Thanksgiving, Ezra Klein asked “Why does Gov. Rick Perry want more uninsured Texans?” Consider the case of Texas, which with 25 percent uninsured, leads the nation in not providing for its residents. If the state pulls out of Medicaid, … Continue reading →

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