The latest Medicaid news from The Texas Tribune.
The cost of common medical procedures paid for by Medicaid varies dramatically from hospital to hospital and region to region, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of claims by and payments to hundreds of hospitals across the state. Full Story
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The Houston builder and Health Care Compact Alliance vice chair on how an interstate compact could fix health care in Texas — and give the state some semblance of local control over what he calls an unsustainable health care system. Full Story
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As the House prepares for a vote on its budget bill, Senate lawmakers are hinting that they're looking to spend more than their counterparts on public education — setting the stage for a budget battle. Full Story
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Health care providers who treat profoundly disabled children at home face major budget cuts this session — cuts they say would devastate their industry and cost the state more in the long run. Full Story
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State health officials, searching for solutions to Texas’ budget shortfall, are eying neonatal intensive care units, which they fear are being overbuilt and overused by hospitals eager to profit from the high-cost care. Full Story
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Federal health care reform was the clear antagonist at today’s meeting of the House Select Committee on State Sovereignty. Republican lawmakers laid out a dozen bills aimed at getting the federal government out of Texas' health care system. Full Story
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A Texas law dating back to the 1800s that keeps hospitals from directly hiring doctors comes before lawmakers today, in a flurry of bills designed to remove the ban — either for an individual hospital district, or for all the state's rural hospitals. Full Story
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The president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late Democratic Gov. Ann Richards on Republican lawmakers’ efforts to defund her organization, a Texas attorney general’s opinion she says will keep low-income women from preventative care, and how her mother would’ve handled all of this. Full Story
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A judge has ruled the state may continue its legal challenge against the pharmaceutical company Janssen over allegations it offered officials kickbacks to get a schizophrenia medicine on a preferred drug list. Full Story
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Many Texas lawmakers have forsworn taxes, but they also promised to educate kids, to build roads, to care for the needy and to do what government is expected to do. It’s the adult version of those mathematical story problems that made sixth grade so much fun. Full Story
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State health officials hope they've reached a breakthrough in their effort to achieve two goals: expanding Medicaid managed care, and keeping a combined $1 billion in federal health care dollars flowing into Texas hospitals every year. Full Story
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The Houston neurosurgeon, author and frequent health care adviser to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on his support for the individual insurance mandate, why cutting provider rates to rescue the budget is misguided and how far Texas would trim Medicaid if given the permission. Full Story
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State Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, would rather raise taxes a little bit than make the cuts lawmakers are considering now, he told the Tribune this evening. Full Story
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State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, is no fan of "Obamacare." But he told his House colleages this afternoon that if they don't set up a health insurance exchange — one of the tenets of reform — by 2014, the federal government will do it for them. Full Story
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Protecting education and recognizing that the rapidly growing Hispanic population will gain a major political voice in Texas were themes that emerged Monday at the Tribune's “New Day Rising” forum. Full Story
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The best of our best content from Feb. 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
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This week's TribCast features Ross, Reeve, Ben and Emily discussing the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, the buzz about Medicaid and concealed carry on college campuses. Full Story
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While many people believe that needle exchange programs simply facilitate or condone illegal drug use, there is a powerful conservative argument for why they're good public policy. Full Story
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We liveblogged this morning from the Austin Club, where the subject of today's TribLive was health care: the costs — and solutions — for Medicaid, payment reform in Texas vs. the federal health overhaul, and what kind of hit Texas' neediest patients will take. Full Story
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A conservative think tank and Republican state leaders gathered this morning to offer their solutions to the state's "unsustainable" Medicaid cost crunch. Full Story
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