Would love to see it! And a good way for Abbott to start his new job. Some lawmakers want to bring more people under the Medicaid umbrella AUSTIN — In a private meeting with Houston-area state lawmakers last week, Gov.-elect Greg Abbott brought up a topic so radioactive in Texas politics that even the mention of it caught the room off guard, according to three of those present. The longtime attorney general, who made a name for himself by suing President Barack Obama and his administration, asked for more information about a compromise recently struck by the Republican governor of Utah and the federal government that could pave the way for that heavily conservative state to expand Medicaid through the president’s signature health care law. Texas is the biggest holdout on Medicaid expansion: More than 1 million low-income residents would qualify for health coverage under the program.
Yuck. It's so disheartening that we couldn't find a decent Republican candidate to be the next Governor of Texas. Abbott seems like a sleazeball that is just working for a stronger public perception rather than doing anything helpful for our state.
more Yet in no state is the economic logic of expanding Medicaid as self-evident as it is in Texas. The state consistently leads the nation in its ratio of uninsured residents -- 22.1% in 2013. (The national average in 2014 is 13.4%.) A 2013 report by former state controller Billy Hamilton projected that the state would lose $7.7 billion in federal funds and incur $397 million in costs through 2015 by shunning Medicaid expansion. Acceptance would relieve Texas hospitals of a sizable share of the $17 billion in uncompensated care they provide to uninsured residents every year. Without expansion, nearly 900,000 Texan children lack coverage. The state has had the highest uninsured rate among residents earning less than 138% of the federal poverty line, the income ceiling for Medicaid expansion, at 55%. Under the ACA, the federal government would cover 100% of the cost of serving those residents via Medicaid through 2016, after which the match declines in stages to a permanent 90% in 2020 and beyond.
It's nice to see someone who is willing to cross partisan lines to do what is best for the people of Texas.
Yeah. Giving another million folks insurance and saving the state a few billion is not "doing anything helpful for our state" in the mind of a Tea Partier. lol
I'm all for the expansion of Medicaid in Texas..as well as participation in the exchange. However, neither of which will cause that percentage to drop very much. There are 1.7 million illegal immigrants in Texas that won't buy car insurance..much less health insurance. An immigration work program that forces businesses to began paying them the correct wages might help though.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that all those they talk about being uninsured are illegals. I know a sizable amount of blue collar workers who do not have benefits thru their workplace and do not make enough to afford insurance. We are the ones who need the help that the repubbies dont want to allow us to have exactly because they have alot of folks brainwashed into thinking only illegals are uninsured. We are real Texans who arent fortunate enough to have those cushy office jobs alot of you have.
Even with medicaid expansion, the threshold for medicaid is extremely low. You can qualify for a subsidy in this state without qualifying for medicaid.
At least Tex Repubs pushed tort reform to cap medical malpractice suits. That really helped prices...
Is this some sort of argument against expansion of Medicaid? A sort of: "if you are too poor to not be able to afford Obamacare, even with a subsidy, then and make too much for Texas Medicaid, you don't deserve health care." .
I don't think that at all - but they are a sizable portion of the percentage, almost 1 in 3. The rate of uninsured will definitely go lower, but not cut in half. There will still be plenty of citizens that won't get insurance and instead will pay the tax. If you force employers to pay illegal workers a real wage (through a work program for illegals) you will force all wages back up in the so called "jobs nobody want's" category. People used to make a living doing those jobs, but payments made under the table have greatly deflated the wages for both the undocumented and the American citizen.
No. I've criticized Perry for not accepting the Medicaid expansion. My point was exactly what I said. It was directed to the poster who said he knows a lot of blue collar workers who can't afford insurance because of this. The truth is that most blue collar workers are not going to qualify for medicaid, even under the expansion, but they may qualify for a subsidy. Their subsidy eligibility is not impacted by Medicaid expansion. Unfortunately most people don't know and don't ask. The Medicaid threshold is very low, even with expansion. If you are a blue collar worker that is at least on the threshold of middle class you aren't going to get Medicaid.
Lol... True that. But many republicans (white Americans) need this stuff just as much if not more than minority groups. If you only go by what's on TV you would think blacks and mexicans are the ones using up all the money needing assistance from the government. That's a BS narrative that has been said for as long as I can remember. A lot of people won't do certain jobs regardless of how much it pays. Landscaping in Texas is a good business (maybe won't get rich doing it but a living can be made off of it) but usually you only see Mexicans who start and or work in that field.
