Guest Column: Health Reform Ruling is Bad for Texas
Thursday was a sad day for constitutional governance and for Texas: despite any silver linings to be found in the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obamacare, the bottom line is that it represents a net defeat for Texas families struggling to afford health care in a market fatally distorted by government intervention and fiat.
The major consequences of the still-extant act are three. First, the individual mandate, now justified by Congress’ power to tax, remains an unprecedented intrusion of the federal government into the lives of all Americans. Second, the ruling does nothing to alleviate the dire fiscal straits of ...
Comments (45)
Sal Sheehy
It is remarkable that the strongest voices against expansion of health insurance coverage are people who have had government health insurance most of their lives. When has Gov. Perry, Mssrs Abbott, Cornyn, Lamar Smith, etc., etc., not been covered by the taxpayers?
herman torres
As a state representative, Arlene led the charge to cut CHIP and remove 1/3 of Texas children from the health program. Her authorship and support of this cold-hearted measure led to her defeat when she decided run for higher office.
Susie Martinez-Dominguez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And Texas will try to get away with implementing this as LITTLE as possible...
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not teaching critical thinking skills in schools so as not to challenge students' fixed ideas is bad for Texas. Trying to ensure that as many people as possible have access to health care, so that they don't have to go to the ER when they're really sick and thus increase premiums for everyone, not so much.
Gary L. Cockerham via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There is a precedent. No one says you have to buy car insurance in Texas, you just can't legally drive on Texas public highways without it. This accomplishes coverage for everyone so that no one person is left holding the bag. Everyone pays their fair share. You do believe in everyone kicking in their fair share, right?
Maria Cristina Uribe-Short via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Coming from a Republican. Shocker.
Diane Wolfe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Did she read the ruling? It wasn't decided on the Commerce Clause, making the force-to-purchase issue moot.
Richard Stone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This ruling is bad for Texas Republicans ... Nearly 25% of Texans lack health insurance (we're #1! Yay!) and this bill COULD help reduce that significantly ... but only if Texas Republicans 1) accept expanded federal healthcare dollars and 2) set up insurance exchanges. Since they won't do that, Texas Dems have golden opportunity to paint the GOP as the party denying health care to millions of Texans ...
Luisa Inez Newton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Republicans are bad for Texas.
Pun Nio via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Next time Perry chastises the "federal" government in not protecting the borders, maybe he should practice what he preaches by not denying Texans benefits from the Federal government. As always, the citizens are political pawns.
Lisa Ahrlett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yeah, but you don't have to buy it if you don't drive. And you aren't required to insure yourself, you only need liability coverage. And if you do drive uninsured, you pay a traffic citation for your choice to drive illegally. You're not taxed for not having insurance, even if you do not drive. Also, this is a state law, not federal. You're giving the federal government the power to tax citizens for economic inactivity. Imagine the abuse that will happen as a result.
David Huang via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Considering the individual mandate first appeared in conservative circles, maybe she should take a long hard look at the Republican party and stop being all OMGGGG LIBERAL EVIL!!!!!!
Of course, all this hullabaloo could be avoided if we had gone to universal healthcare, but that's just too "socialist" for some people.
Matthew J Christensen via Texas Tribune on Facebook
When did the mandate appear in conservative circles first? And I mean on a Federal scale. Most conservatives are for STATE rights, not Federal.
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Matthew, the Heritage Foundation, back in the 90s.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/the-individual-mandates-c_b_1386716.html
Jill Meredith Bergene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yeah, altruism goes against the the principles of greedy, needy patriotic Americans.
Sergio Hernandez De Santos via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I heard Michael Burgess on 890 AM (Chicago) this morning, how this guy gets voted by the people of Denton Co?
Taylor J. Harris via Texas Tribune on Facebook
REPUBLICANS ARE EVIL!!
Go back to your liberal circle jerk, you drones.
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Take the time to find out about AHC. http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/full.html
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Nope, the GOP don't want anyone to have anything except for the wealthy and Corporations.
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Maybe some employers will stop offering health care to their people or maybe they'll pay a smaller share - or maybe not. Maybe more doctors will stop taking Medicare or maybe more will sign up. Maybe pharmaceuticals will raise prices, lower prices, offer or retract financial programs or maybe nothing will change. Personally I see more patients for sole practitioners which means they'll need more staff - but maybe not. One thing I do know for a fact is that no one will move to Texas because of our generous Medicaid system, so relax. People who can pay, will and those that can't, won't and some of those will just continue to do without basic healthcare until the pain is so bad they can't stand it.
Eric Dana Jensen via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If I had the cheap ass health insurance that most Texas employers offer their employees, I would find a better policy under the ACA in the insurance exchange that Texas must now set up.
Rudy Gonzales
Memo to Arlene Wohlgemuth: Yesterday's historic ruling on the Health Care Act signaled the beginning of the end of the TEA-Republican party as we know it. It will morph into the TEA-Fringe Extremist party as they make every effort to stop Obama with petty ploys and Ceiling fiasco's. Wait! I just heard the Transportation bill was just passed...and the Student Loan rate was just passed...? There might be some people getting smart on these jobs bills and student assistance. Getting to the Health Care bill - Here's what is good about this bill:
Under the health care law, your existing guaranteed Medicare-covered benefits won’t be reduced or taken away. Neither will your ability to choose your own doctor.
Nearly 4 million people with Medicare received cost relief during the law’s first year. If you had Medicare prescription drug coverage and had to pay for your drugs in the coverage gap known as the “donut hole,” you received a one-time, tax free $250 rebate from Medicare to help pay for your prescriptions.
If you have high prescription drug costs that put you in the donut hole, you now get a 50% discount on covered brand-name drugs while you’re in the donut hole.
Between today and 2020, you’ll get continuous Medicare coverage for your prescription drugs. The donut hole will be closed completely by 2020.
Medicare covers certain preventive services without charging you the Part B coinsurance or deductible. You will also be offered a free annual wellness exam.
The life of the Medicare Trust Fund will be extended as a result of reducing waste, fraud and abuse, and slowing cost growth in Medicare, which will provide you with future cost savings on your premiums and coinsurance.
Health plans can't cancel coverage once you get sick -- a practice known as "rescission" -- unless you committed fraud when you applied for coverage.
Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage (this will apply to adults in 2014).
If you are older than 65, the law is narrowing a gap in the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan known as the "doughnut hole." That's when seniors who have paid a certain initial amount in prescription costs have to pay for all of their drug costs until they spend a total of $4,700 for the year. Then the plan coverage begins again. That coverage gap will be closed entirely by 2020. Seniors will still be responsible for 25 percent of their prescription drug costs.
The law also has expanded Medicare's coverage of preventive services, such as screenings for colon, prostate and breast cancer, which are now free to beneficiaries. Medicare will also pay for an annual wellness visit to the doctor.
If you are covered under a private Medicare Advantage plan, however, the law is cutting payments to some of those plans, and critics say that could mean the private plans may not offer many extra benefits.
Wake up Texans! Vote out the extremist dropping Texas to the lowest level of health care for women and children in America.
The radical extremes, who were for it before they were against it, are upset because they had little input for their monied insurance benefactors. Insurance companies cannot discriminate with pre-existing conditions. Insurers will have to provide rebates to consumers if they spend less than 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care. Insurance Companies will have to return a stimulus style dividend on monies not used in medical procedures or care to insureds rather than compensation to their CEO's and CFO's.
Wake up! Throw out all the confrontational TEA-Republicans currently wasting tax money and time in Austin.
Carolyn Mata via Texas Tribune on Facebook
what about car insurance?
Stanley Moore via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The writer is from a conservative think tank? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Manny Sepulveda via Texas Tribune on Facebook
i love the question Matthew ask. na ah... we didNT come up with it we're for state rights.... so silly ... he didnt know this was a conservative idea ... to get the free loaders in the ER to pay.... now does that sound like the familiar lets beat up on poor people doctrine of the right?? now do you feel at home matthew? that is where the individual mandate comes from... all the free loaders in the ER... republicans are for states rights unless its about womens right to choose, or the right of people to marry,,, so they are not always about state rights!
Tony Trevino
The Ultrasound bill is unprecedented intrusion, not the this healthcare law which is an attempt to pool risks into large groups to manage cost. Coming from Republicans, there is NOTHING anyone can say to change their minds because they are not trying to pursuade anyone on the merits. It's all a game. They must win and Obama must lose. It is not about getting anything done. They are morally corrupt. It is a little bit like the "Church Lady" on SNL skits who decides what behavior should be.
Finally, let's not forget that Rick Perry is now drawing retirement pay, which means his health insurance premiums are paid for by the State of TX. For someone who claims govt is intrusive, $10,000 rental digs sounds good to me. He draws retirement pay because of the all the years he was employed as a state employee (that's a lot of years). That is the definition of hippocracy.
Hans P. Graff via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Arlene Wolgemuth is a lying, drooling idiot.
Melissa Holder via Texas Tribune on Facebook
bad for money grubbing politicians and insurance lobbyists? Yeah, I believe that! thank God somebody cares for the people of America, Thank you President Obama:)
Tim Hurst via Texas Tribune on Facebook
more lies from the crazies
David Wilton
I agree wholeheartedly. The only answer is single payer. Let the next batttle begin.
David Starkey
There could be a fee for a social security card.
There could be a National ID card, AND there could be a fee for THAT.
Federal firearms licensing is already in place, REQUIRED, & COSTS MONEY TOO.
LIBERALS didn't say the individual mandate violated the commerce clause, CONSERVATIVES did. You were wrong, live with it.
And isn't it somewhat hypocritical that TEXAS REQUIRES CAR INSURANCE, but doesn't think it's fair for the Federal Government to require HEALTH insurance? Let's look at the situation with a pinch of logic, shall we? If someone is DEAD, they can't buy car insurance, now can they? This all seems kind of disengenuous, when you take a step back, doesn't it? [I would play the race card here & mention that the President won the popular vote with NEARLY every demographic - just not WHITE GUYS, but what would be unfair, huh? Or, I could mention that rather than work CONSTRUCTIVELY to HELP THE PEOPLE THEY WERE ELECTED TO SERVE, the Republicrites vowed instead "to make sure Barack Obama is a one term President.
YOU CAN'T DIG THE HOLE & HIDE THE SHOVEL DAILY, THEN BITCH WHEN HE HASN'T FILLED IT IN HALF THE TIME IT TOOK YOU TO DIG IT.
QUIT YOUR BELLYACHING LIKE YOU USED TO SAY THE BLEEDING HEARTS DID, AND GET TO WORK! IF THE REPUBLICANS CAN GET A DECENT JOBS BILL THROUGH CONGRESS - AND YES, THERE IS STILL TIME - YOU MIGHT HAVE A CHANCE COME NOVEMBER. But God forbid "HE" should be the one to get to sign it.
One last thing, as a white Texan, I wish to state, for the record, that compared to Barack Obama, "DUHbya" was a smirking, underqualified frat-weasel with daddy issues.
[God bless you Molly Ivens, where ever you are.]
Stay tuned folks, there is already a lot of good here, but there is a lot more to come. You've been lied to about it costing MORE. It will save a trillion before you know it - and to paraphrase an old saying: "a trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking serious money.
audrey fisher
While the ALEC aligned group, TPPF are free to whine all day long about healthcare, what everyone should know is that the agency that they quote is a group that are seriously against healthcare reform and have been since 2009.
So, what we are reading is anti-ACA for dummies, who are unwilling or unable to do more than complain about anything that would obscure their vision of a pure "free-market".
Do some research, what country has tried this model? Chile! Despite all the "hoorays" in the 80's, those sounds were from a select group who refused to look at how those Chicago-Boys did in the long run, was the generic citizen better served, in the long run. The answer is NO.
While this guest columnist is free to write whatever they want, using verbage to feed a political constituency is not the way to win an intellectual argument, if facts matter.
My guess is that the next time around, they will point to the article by Chuck Blahous and hope that no one bother's or notices the discrepancy between his claims / predictions and the AFP / Tim Phillips email from 6/29/2012.
Are we all suppose to forget that Gov. Perry was forewarned about the huge budget shortfall and his action was ZERO. While Wohlgemuth can speak to the long history of TX, we need to acknowledge the complete and accurate history rather than their politically motivated pick and chose history.
Amy Eldred
CBO estimates determine that Obamacare's 900 billion dollar pricetag will more than double in a report from March of 2012.
Medicaid is underpays and under provides and many doctors and hospitals have already rejected the program because the reimbursements are too low.
The Heritage Foundation did, along with other Conservatives, look at the idea of the individual mandate in the early 90's and ditched the idea because it was clear it was not workable and inherently unfair.
Medicare Advantage (a very popular program among seniors which uses a free market model) will be gutted under Obamacare to the tune of 500 billion. In addition, funds for Medicare have been double counted in the calculations for Ocare. Seniors will suffer the most as they face the 15 member IPAB board who will determine if they are worthy of receiving certain types of care. Much will be denied because they are too old. A recent report from the UK stipulates that the NHA essentially euthanizes approximately 130000 seniors a year because of denial of care.
Doctors will retire early and the young will go into other, more lucrative fields. Result: Doctor Shortage/rationing of care
Employers will review cost of providing health insurance and find it more cost efficient to eliminate the plan and pay the fine. This leaves millions of uninsured forced into state exchanges which will ultimately cost much more and provide much less.
The math is simple: High cost = more money out of your pocket. All of you Obamacare proponents don't seem to realize that you too will pay and pay alot. Then you'll gripe because it costs too much. Government doesn't produce anything, has no motivation to hold down costs and is always enthusiastic to spend YOUR money.
Bottom line: Obamacare or any kind of government run healthcare program is doomed to fail because govt is inefficient and incompetent. We will all suffer and in the end, do with less at a higher cost.
Christine Lund
With 41% of Texans working for minimum wage, just how can anyone say that Texans aren't needing this federal help. Since our Governor finds his job so boring that all he does is pander to the GOP, he has no time to take care of us. Between Senator Cornyn and Governor Perry, I don't know which is worse. If it tqkes government 'intrusion' to make them act right, so be it. Someone needs to slap down this ridiculous rationing of care to the poor. They know what's wrong but refuse to fix it because it makes them richer.
Alex Burgess
This message was brought to you by Texas Public Policy and Charles G. Koch.
tellus thetruth
The Affordable Health Care Act is over 2400 pages long. It is so long that speaker Pelosi said we must pass it to see what is in it! I know quite of few people who read their mortgage before they signed it. The devil is in the details. The bill was written so the appealing portions were implemented during the election year. The devil will be implemented starting in 2014. I'm a father of two young children who works long days to provide for them. The notion that my current insurance carrier will become to expensive to carry is scary. Furthermore, how can I get a waiver that only close circled friends of Obama are getting. If this bill is so great then do away with the waivers! Get informed and vote responsibly. We all deserve better.
Jim Wier
@Amy Eldred - that government run healthcare program is doomed to fail because govt is inefficient and incompetent isn't true - both Medicare and Veterans' healthcare have lower overhead costs than private insurance. Private healthcare has failed to deliver healthcare to all Americans at a reasonable price. And because it has failed, government, as the last resort, has had to step in and provide this service.
Rudy Gonzales
David Dewhurst, Ted Cruz and all the TEA-Republican's in Texas are against the Health Care Act and it approval from the Supreme Court. But what these confrontational radicals will not tell you the Health Care law prescribes. Data released by insurers helped us determine which insurance companies may owe rebates in your state. Rebates will vary in size, but for the first time ever, insurers are actually giving you money back, and anything helps!
Where are all the jobs y'all promised in 2010?
The Health Care Act sanctioned by the Supreme Court will provide back to Texans:
Individual Market:
Aetna Life Ins Co: $8,442,789
American Republic Ins Co: $425,718
Golden Rule Ins Co: $9,317,167
Connecticut Gen Life Ins Co: $5,293,245
John Alden Life Ins Co: $1,653,815
Mid West Natl Life Ins Co Of TN: $998,507
Time Ins Co: $5,536,259
Humana Ins Co: $9,591,167
Standard Life and Casualty Insurance Company: $995,468
The Mega Life & Hlth Ins Co: $2,346,153
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas: $89,881,761
Total: $134,482,051
Check out how much you should be getting:
http://yourhealthsecurity.org/health-insurance-refund-map
Mike Snyder
Arlene Wohlgemuth exemplifies all that is wrong with politics in this country. and it is disappointing to see her given wasted space here. Strident and vacuous she goes from issue to issue like a drunken sailor, never able to make any sense of it. Texas Monthly has done a fine job following Arlene's confused course, and has given her some well-deserved awards along the way.
By the way, it would be fascinating to see every writer's net worth. Somehow I think there might be an economic pattern evident in many of these issues... Duh!
Juan Reynoso
LATINOS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT
Help us to spread the truth, pass this on and help us to take our country back.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/
The Obama care decision is in fact a political ideology that ones again trashed our Constitution.
Fellow Americans, the Obama administration is an arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites that makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without the consent of the people or accepting or requesting the input of the people of this United States. Obama the self proclaim unchecked Dictator, with a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined their power to demise our Constitution and thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people. Taxation. Obama-care, Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose.
Fellow Americans, nothing matter but our U.S. Constitution, we must defend it before this corrupt system of government destroy our freedom and liberty. On July 4ht on celebration of our independence we must pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America. We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. We pledge to stop the corrupt lawyers of this United States from trashing our constitution with their ill legislations that demise the rights of the people, we honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.
The need for urgent action to repair our economy through a fair trade policy, to enforce our immigration laws, to protect our people by securing our borders and stop our government from military intervention on the pretense of national security and best interest of this United States, and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated. Like free peoples of the past, our citizens refuse to accommodate a government that believes it can replace the will of the people with its own. The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country’s compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good.
Fellow Americans, America is more than a country, it is freedom and nothing matter but our Constitution. In order to preserve our freedom, We pledge to make our government more transparent in its actions, careful in its stewardship, and honest in its dealings. We pledge to advance policies that promote greater liberty, wider opportunity, a robust defense, and national economic prosperity.
We pledge to uphold the purpose and promise of a better America, knowing that to whom much is given, much is expected and that the blessings of our liberty and the hopes of Americans is not place in jeopardy by greed nor corruption. We make this pledge bearing true faith and allegiance to our country the The Unite States of America, and we invite fellow citizens, permanent residents of our country of all nationalities and our American patriots to join us in forming a new governing agenda for America.
We must strengthen the federal government by redirecting its time, energy and resources toward those objects for which it bears express constitutional responsibility. Our Government is a government of limited and enumerated powers. The power not delegated to the federal government by the written Constitution is reserved to the states or to the people respectively.
We must stop the trashing of our Constitution at all cost.
The Fredom Movement - posted by Juan Reynoso
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_reli.html
Another 99%
Bet conservative will continue to throw women, children, the middleclass under their crooked bus, so they can use them to manage their sick politics.
Bet people in Texas will continue to vote for these parasite.
nick pell
Wow, talk about towing the party line! She even managed to throw in the latest "we actually won" talking point, somehow saying that the ruling is bad for Texas but we actually won anyway. Unbelievably unimaginative and remarkably rote little column.
Dale Curry
In her Column opposing the Supreme Courts Ruling on Healthcare, Ms. Wohlgemuth made quite a few factual “inaccuracies” in support of her opinion, Only a republican could see adequate access to healthcare for all families as a “net defeat” for Texas families. And to claim that healthcare will become a market fatally distorted by government intervention and fiat, is to show a complete ignorance of the healthcare market of today. A market where the distortions come from Insurance Companies, and the massive amounts of money they have funneled into their ‘lobbying’ activities.
Continuing in her second paragraph, Ms. Wohlgemuth continues to demonstrate her ability to scream fire in a crowed theater. First, she calls the individual mandate an unprecedented intrusion of the federal government into the lives of all Americans, yet does nothing to support her outrageous claim. Nor does she point out, the individual mandate was originally proposed by Newt Gingrich during the debate over, “Hillary care”. She would like to paint a picture of a government mandate that puts an onerous burden upon every one, but that is simply not the truth. Healthcare is an expensive and basic need of every human, and our infrastructure for its delivery, should reflect this fact. Ms. Wohlgemuth second ‘consequence’ is to make the ridiculous claim this law does nothing to alleviate the dire straights of Texas’s Medicaid program. Why should the Supreme Court, or Federal Government be responsible for cleaning up a program grossly mismanaged by the STATE legislature and all to political Governor? Our GOP legislature has deliberately and repeatedly chosen to underfund the Medicaid program. By doing so, the republicans have effectively abandoned their legislative and governing responsibilities in order to play politics with the lives of millions of poor people. Repeatedly they have engaged in highly questionable accounting tricks to balance a budget that is clearly failing our state most notably, our children. Next, she claims Obamacare is set to wreck havoc on Texas businesses. Another statement where she offers NO argument in support of her frivolous claim whatsoever. Furthermore, her use of the term, “set to” clearly admits this is all supposition and has no basis in fact.
Next, My Wohlgemuth makes the outlandish claim that this law establishes the precedent of forcing the public to purchase products when said Government decrees some tangible benefit to it. Unless Ms. Wohlgemuth lives in Saudi Arabia where women are not allowed to drive, she knows this is deliberately misleading statement and simply NOT true. It is a statement without any basis in fact or truth. However, the award for deliberate lies that defy logic would be her ridiculous statement, that “in many cases Medicaid recipients exhibited worse health outcomes than their uninsured counterparts,”. Such a statement is beyond contempt and is an insult to the intelligence of all who were unfortunate enough to read this propaganda piece.
Since the Democrats initiated Healthcare reform, it has been one right wing lie after another. From Death Panels (2009 Politifact Lie of the Year) to Government takeover of healthcare (2010 Lie of the Year), it has been their mission to derail this President and any meaningful reform proposed, though dishonesty, hyper partisanship, and blaming others for their failures. They refused to negotiate with the Democrats during the run up to the legislation, choosing to use the matter as wedge issue.
In her summation, Ms. Wohlgemuth claims that conservatives are ready to replace Obamacare. After thirty plus years of waiting for their action, I am reminded what Lee Iacocca once said: it is time to “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Ms. Wohlgemuth and her ilk have engaged in a campaign of misrepresentation, disinformation, lies, and race baiting.
I encourage everyone who reads this article, or my response, to get the facts for his or her own. The issues are too important than to trust anyone but your own research.
Adele Roberson
On CNN last evening, Saturday, July 7 there was a program dissecting health care services in different parts of the world. A very good, well written and concise amount of information. If you missed it I would advise watchihng for it again because it is should be watched by every person in the United States.
Swizerland, after thorough investigation, appears to be the best health care delivered in a timely fashion and being affordable to everyone, came out first in the rating.
It was interesting to find out that Switzerlands health care system very closely follows the OBAMA
Affordable Health Care recently approved in the United States by the Supreme Court.
Investigation of Switzerlands Health Care System showed the plan has been used there since 1993. So plenty of time has been passed to reassure the people there that they like the plan, services are fast and extremely affordable but also that the costs of all this, including the hospitals were completely under control. If we can just go ahead, accept this plan that the people in this country need and want so badly, even if this plan needs tweeking in the future, we can do this, we can refine the spots that need more work and we will be glad we have, finally, coverage like this. Gone will be the eternal worries that you will lose everything you have worked for so hard if you get sick. Gone will be the horror you would feel if your nine year old son is diagnosed with lymphoma and your Insurance Company, the same one you have been paying premuims to for eleven years
drops your coverage.
Lily Valetta
. . . "chosen to enroll . . . "? What a weasel Ms. Wohlgemuth demonstrates herself to be with this statement. The Medicaid enrollment process in Texas is as opaque as its administrators can make it.