_{*Clarification appended.}

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday opened its discussion on how to finance the state's health budget by considering the impact of cost containment initiatives passed last session, how to proactively curb Medicaid fraud and ways to address the costs associated with federal health care reforms.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands and chairman of the committee, said that if lawmakers don’t find a way to curb out-of-control health care costs, they will soon eat up most of the state's budget. The state's proposed health care spending is now nearly equal to its proposed education ...

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