The latest Medicaid news from The Texas Tribune.
The Democratic state representative from Houston on his Republican colleagues' quest for a federal Medicaid waiver, the problem with block grants and what realistically the feds could do to help Texas and other states. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/GarnetMedicaid_no_needle_babies.jpg)
By more than 2 to 1, Texas voters believe lawmakers should solve the state's shortfall by cutting the budget, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, but they're divided on specific cuts. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/BalanceTheBudget001_1.png)
Only months ago, Texas lawmakers threatened to drop out of Medicaid. Now, Texas and other financially strapped states are asking Washington for permission to operate the program as they see fit. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Medicaid_Tri.jpg)
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott just released two opinions expected to force Planned Parenthood out of the state's Women's Health Program, which provides family planning, but not abortions, to Medicaid patients. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PlannedParenthood.jpg)
Texas, like many other states, is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to help close a budget gap. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, one thing Texas has that nobody else does is $9 billion in a piggy bank called the Rainy Day Fund — and lawmakers are divided over whether to crack it open. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasMoneyTree.jpg)
Texas, like many other states, is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to help close a budget gap. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, one thing Texas has that nobody else does is $9 billion in a piggy bank called the Rainy Day Fund — and lawmakers are divided over whether to crack it open. Full Story
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Grapevine, introduced two bills Wednesday they believe will save the state money by increasing "healthy patient outcomes." Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCA8916.jpg)
The quickest way to curb the state's reeling Medicaid costs? Eliminating fraud and recovering funds, state officials say. “I just don’t think people out there have any idea how much money is being scammed,” said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Grapevine. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/medicaid-pills.png)
Texas' superlatives are nothing to brag about, according to the fifth edition of "Texas on the Brink," an annual review that ranks the state on dozens of factors ranging from health insurance to voter turnout. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasOnTheBrink.jpg)
They’re surely facing the worst budget cycle any of them have experienced. Yet in hours of testimony before lawmakers, the commissioners of Texas’ social services and education agencies appear largely unruffled. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ac59f25ab80de3bd6ef9926a622bfba1/BD%20INC%20Thomas%20Suehs%202010)
One lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment blocking lawmakers from passing so-called unfunded mandates on to local governments. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, cities and counties worry the costs will come anyway. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/budgetcuts004.jpg)
In a rock concert-like setting, at times reaching Howard Dean-like volumes, Gov. Rick Perry used his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington to deliver his resounding message: The government closest to the people is the one that governs best. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryStateofState.jpg)
The proposed budget cuts Gov. Rick Perry laid out in his State of the State speech are more symbolic than lucrative and trivialize the cuts that are being made elsewhere in state services and programs. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasArt_LongHorn.jpg)
More than 100 Texas doctors made a deal with the state: For four years, they would practice in underserved communities and treat the neediest patients — in return for having their med school debt forgiven. But now state officials may be backing down from their side of the bargain. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DrMunoz001.jpg)
Gov. Rick Perry will challenge the state's colleges and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor's degree, including books, in his State of the State speech later this morning, according to sources familiar with some of the proposals. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/perry_sots_01_09.png)
We must continue to fight to ensure that we implement cost-saving reforms that reflect Texas' commitment to prosperity and to economic growth. But our current budget shortfall isn't a time to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/010709_hammon_bill_2.jpg)
More money is not the answer to our current woes. Just as anyone managing a household budget knows, when a family’s expenses grow beyond its income, the solution is to cut back — particularly if its spending habits resemble the state's. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Heflin.jpg)
We need a balanced approach that uses our reserves and adds revenue. And we have to start by casting aside wishful thinking; we are writing the 2012-13 budget, with higher costs and increased enrollment in education and health care services — not some past budget. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Castro.jpg)
The keepers of numbers over in the LBJ Building, north of the Capitol, have confirmed to lawmakers what they warned them about in 2006: The legislation that cut local school property taxes and revised the state's corporate franchise tax didn't balance, to the tune of $10 billion a biennium. Full Story
The best of our best from January 31 to February 4. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek01312011.jpg)