Managed care plans would be required to offer more mental health services to Medicaid recipients under a bill tentatively approved by the House on Friday.

The House tentatively approved a bill to reform the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, bringing the state one step closer to restoring financing for the beleaguered agency.

Medicaid providers would have clearer due process rights during fraud investigations under a measure the House gave tentative approval to on Wednesday.

UPDATED: Budget negotiations stretched late into the evening on Wednesday, but lawmakers said privately they didn’t expect to announce a deal until Thursday. 

In the waning days of budget negotiations, medical providers are pushing lawmakers to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates that were chopped two years ago.

State Rep. John Zerwas, a budget conferee, said Monday he’s relatively confident that a rider stipulating the Legislature's preferred Medicaid reform terms for any deal with the federal government would stick to the 2014-15 budget.

UPDATED: With the prospect of Medicaid expansion on life support, protesters gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to urge state leadership to expand coverage to poor adults, and state Democrats announced that they’re still searching for a legislative vehicle to expand coverage. 

Small cigarette manufacturers would face new state fees on their sales under a measure that passed the Texas House in a preliminary vote on Monday — a big win for Big Tobacco. 

The political fireworks that accompanied lawmakers’ 2011 fight over women’s health care and abortion has been replaced with some semblance of concession, as legislators work quietly to restore financing.

UPDATED: The Health and Human Services Commission received approval on Wednesday to raise the Medicaid premiums that go to managed care companies.

At the Trib's April 25 symposium on higher education at the University of Texas at Austin, state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and John Zerwas, R-Simonton, talked about Medicaid, mental health and more.

The Texas Association of Businesses — a heavyweight in conservative lobbying circles — has endorsed state Rep. John Zerwas’ proposal to negotiate with the federal government to find a palatable way to expand health insurance coverage.

Texas optometrists are lobbying the Legislature for more power to negotiate contracts with health insurance companies, and the measure they are supporting could hit consumers’ wallets, some business advocates say.

UPDATED: Without debate, the Texas Senate approved a bill by Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, to alter Texas' end-of-life laws. 

Amid hours of testimony from advocates in support of Medicaid expansion on Tuesday, state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, described his proposal for an alternative program to provide health coverage for the poor and uninsured.

Despite Gov. Rick Perry remaining strongly opposed to expanding Medicaid, a House panel on Tuesday considered legislation that would expand coverage to poor adults under the Affordable Care Act.

Under a bill by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, applicants for unemployment benefits could be subject to drug testing if their responses to a questionnaire raise red flags.

Nearly 2.6 million Texans could qualify for tax credits to purchase health insurance in 2014, according to a report released Thursday by a nonprofit advocacy group.