Tag Archives: CHIP

The extraordinary danger of being pregnant and uninsured in Texas

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

So utterly appalling. From 2012 through 2015, at least 382 pregnant women and new mothers died in Texas from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, according to the most recent data available from the Department of State Health Services; since then, … Continue reading →

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The lawsuit to kill Obamacare has its hearing at the Fifth Circuit today

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Brace yourselves. Last year, after a federal judge in Texas declared the entirety of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, throwing into question millions of Americans’ health coverage, the state’s Republican leaders promised they would come up with a plan to … Continue reading →

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Just a reminder, CHIP is still running out

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering. Nearly 400,000 Texas children could lose healthcare coverage in late January unless Congress renews funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a decades-old federal program that provides health care to millions of children across the … Continue reading →

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By the way, CHIP is still running out

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Just in case you were wondering. Advocates say Texas will run out of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program sooner than they thought. The program, which Congress failed to reauthorize last month, covers nearly 400,000 children from working-class families … Continue reading →

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Sure would be nice if we could not kill CHIP

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Just a thought. Insurance coverage for more than 390,000 Texas children and pregnant women is in jeopardy after Congress failed to renew authorization for a federal program. Congressional authorization for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost health insurance … Continue reading →

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Of course Obamacare repeal would have a big negative effect on Texas

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, duh. As many as a half-million Texans could become uninsured under the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, wiping out at least half the gains the state has made in reducing the number of uninsured residents … Continue reading →

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Let’s please get the children covered

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Surely that’s not too much to ask. Five nonprofit organizations and community groups in Texas, including three in the Houston area, have been awarded a combined $4.78 million by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to boost efforts to … Continue reading →

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More kids in Texas have health insurance now

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks, Obama! The number of uninsured children in Texas fell by almost 100,000 during the first year of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, signalling a potential trend across all age groups, a new study by the Robert Wood … Continue reading →

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Expand Medicaid or else

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Turns out the federal government has more leverage over Texas than you might think. If Texas wants to keep receiving billions of federal dollars to help hospitals care for uninsured patients, state lawmakers may have to look again at expanding … Continue reading →

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Expanding Medicaid the hard way

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

A lot smaller than it should have been, but it’s still something. More than 80,000 additional Texans have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall despite Republican state … Continue reading →

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Texas insurance enrollment update

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Enrollments are up and the number of uninsured are down, though both could have been a lot better. The sky-high rate of Texans without health insurance has dropped only slightly since the launch of the federal Affordable Care Act’s online … Continue reading →

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What the ACA does, Texas has long done

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

By now you’ve surely heard about the CBO report on the Affordable Care Act and the workforce, which despite some terribly botched reporting does have a lot of political considerations. There’s something I’d like to point out about this before … Continue reading →

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ACA enrollments in Texas

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

As was the case with the rest of the country, there was a big surge in December. Texas enrollments in the online insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act rose nearly eightfold in December, according to 2013 figures that … Continue reading →

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Supplement this!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Time for the Lege to pay a few past-due bills from 2011. That’s where a supplemental budget comes in. It is literally a second budget added to the original one lawmakers approved in 2011. It’s not an unusual course for … Continue reading →

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Then YOU fix it!

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Stuff like this really pisses me off. On Wednesday, the [Senate Finance] committee heard testimony from state officials on the proposed health budget, which grew 2 percent from the current biennium budget to $70 billion. The chairman of the committee, … Continue reading →

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Counties may try to expand Medicaid on their own

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The Washington Post reports on the efforts of county and hospital district officials in some of Texas’ largest counties to bypass Rick Perry’s refusal to expand Medicaid for Texas and seek approval to do it themselves for their own jurisdictions. … Continue reading →

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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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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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Pediatric dental care

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It’s more important than you might think. While overall oral health care for adults and children has improved, tooth decay continues to be the most common chronic disease among children. It can have serious social and health consequences when untreated … 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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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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This is your government on dogma

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We won’t get Jim Pitts’ bare bones budget outline till late tonight, so as not to be a buzzkill on the Perry coronation inauguration. We did, however, get an opening bid from the ideological purists, and while it’s not worth … 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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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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Medicaid: Ideologues versus experts

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Yes, let’s enroll more kids in CHIP

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

What a great idea. The Obama administration today ballyhooed a new Urban Institute report that suggests a path to enrolling 5 million kids in government-sponsored health insurance who are eligible but not signed up. The report says increasing the number … Continue reading →

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How much do kids count?

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

In Texas, the answer is not much at all. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of Texas kids living in poverty grew by 240,000, accounting for 23 percent of the total child population. The national child poverty rate is 18 … Continue reading →

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Why we can’t just cut our way out of the budget deficit

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

For one thing, there’s very little fat, and not much discretionary spending in the biggest budget items like health and human services. Of the $23 billion in state dollars appropriated in the current budget for health and human services programs, … Continue reading →

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Who can get health care in Williamson County

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This is a bad idea. Williamson County commissioners have decided to stop paying health care costs for indigent adults and children who don’t have valid Social Security cards. County Judge Dan A. Gattis said last week that he wanted to … Continue reading →

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Accounting tricks

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone knows that the current budget shortfall means the Lege will be searching for cutbacks and new revenue sources. But there is a third option, too, one that doesn’t usually get much attention but which has certainly been done before: … Continue reading →

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Don’t be like Arizona

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t have a whole lot of hope for the 2011 legislative session and the budget that it will produce. But at least we won’t do anything quite this stupid. Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its … Continue reading →

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The effect of health care reform on Texas

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an email from the Legislative Study Group, via State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who has been a constant source of health care reform updates: LSG Policy Update: CBO Estimates of Impact of Healthcare Reform to Texas With the United States … Continue reading →

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Those evil, dirty, federal dollars

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Perry loves ’em. Which of the following revenue sources has grown the most since Rick Perry became governor? A. Sales tax, driven by a strong economy. B. Natural gas production tax revenue, driven by a strong economy and the … Continue reading →

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If we must cut the budget, let’s be smart about it

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib remembers the last time the state of Texas had a huge budget hole, and how it made things worse in its attempt to deal with it. For some, it’s not too early to fret that lawmakers will balance … Continue reading →

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