UPDATED: House Bill 1514, which would add a special label to the health insurance cards of people receiving financial assistance under the Affordable Care Act, tentatively passed the Texas House on Friday. Opinions are mixed on what the impact would be.
Edgar Walters
Edgar Walters worked at the Tribune from 2013 to 2020, most recently covering health and human services. Before that, he had a political reporting fellowship with the Berliner Zeitung, a daily newspaper in Berlin. He is a graduate of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked as an editor for The Daily Texan. When not in the newsroom or at the Capitol, he could be found on the volleyball court, standing 6 feet, 7 inches tall.
Posted in
Health care
House Budget Writers Consider Health Care Safety Net
With billions of federal dollars for hospitals in jeopardy as Texas leaders maintain their opposition to Medicaid expansion, budget writers met Thursday to discuss what is at stake for Texas’ health care safety net.
Posted inState Government
Lawmakers, Lobbyists Filmed in Secret Recordings
An activist group with ties to conservative causes claims it will unveil secretly captured footage of Texas lawmakers behaving badly, confessing to a variety of indiscretions, engaging in inappropriate relationships with special interest lobbyists and possibly admitting to criminal behavior.
Posted in
Health care
Study: Texas’ Rate of Uninsured Falls
The rate of Texans without health insurance has fallen 8 percentage points since enrollment began in the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a new study.
Posted in
Health care
Suit Challenges Medical Board on Telemedicine
Dallas-based Teladoc is fighting tooth and nail to stop an impending rule change by the Texas Medical Board that could undermine the company’s business model of having doctors consult with patients over the phone or internet.
Posted in
Health care
Health Agency Mergers Get House Look
The House Human Services Committee heard testimony Monday evening on a bill that would partially consolidate the state’s massive health and human services system.
Posted in
Health care
Health Agency Bill Pulled Down Amid Heated Abortion Debate
UPDATED: Debate on legislation to re-evaluate a state health agency morphed into a fight over abortion in the Texas House on Thursday, and the bill was pulled down after a pair of anti-abortion amendments were added to the bill over the author’s objections.
Posted in
Health care
House Backs Bill Pushing “Right to Try” Experimental Drugs
The Texas House on Tuesday tentatively passed House Bill 21, the “right to try” bill that would allow terminally ill patients to try experimental drugs that have passed at least the first of three FDA trial phases.
Posted in
Health care
Medical Authority Bills Spark More Doc Fights
Medical groups are tracking more than a dozen bills — some moving, some apparently stuck — that would give more autonomy to professionals like nurse practitioners and physical therapists to operate independently of medical doctors.
Posted in
Health care
With Hospital Funds in Question, Abbott Holds Firm On Medicaid
Following news that billions of federal dollars for hospitals could be in jeopardy if the state does not expand its public health insurance program to cover more low-income Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated his opposition to Medicaid expansion.
