The Texas Legislature has declined to pass any broad expansion of state and federal health care coverage for uninsured Texans since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 required states to expand Medicaid — a provision later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Karen Brooks Harper
Karen Brooks Harper reported on the state budget and health and human services from 2020 to 2024. An alumna of the Missouri School of Journalism, Karen arrived in Texas in 1995 to join the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, spent several years in Laredo and Mexico covering immigration and the drug war for Knight-Ridder newspapers, and has covered Texas politics for more than two decades for news organizations including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and Reuters.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Medicaid expansion picks up bipartisan support in the Texas House, but hurdles remain
Expanding the Medicaid rolls to include more than a million Texans could get a floor vote during House budget hearings on Thursday.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas pauses J&J vaccinations as feds plan to review six reports of blood clotting among 6.8 million doses nationwide
At the state’s three FEMA vaccination sites in Dallas, Arlington and Houston, officials said that vaccine efforts would continue but that officials would not be administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Trying to make sense of how Texas ranks on coronavirus vaccinations? Here’s a look behind the numbers.
Texas is beating the national rate in terms of seniors fully vaccinated, but unique challenges make it harder to move up in the rankings in other areas, officials and experts say.
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Coronavirus in Texas
As vaccine eligibility widens, some vulnerable Texans are still fighting for access
The state is still directing providers to prioritize older and vulnerable Texans, and cities are continuing their efforts to reach Texans who have trouble accessing vaccine doses.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Vaccinated Texas nursing home residents can now hug their families and receive more visitors after a year of isolation
For many residents, birthday parties and holiday celebrations took place largely through windows and over video calls.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas opens COVID-19 vaccine to everyone 16 and older on March 29
The Texas Department of State Health Services is asking providers to prioritize appointments for people 80 and older, and to prioritize walk-ins from anyone in that age group who shows up without an appointment.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texans don’t have to prove they’re eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and some are jumping the line. Here’s why.
Providers are not allowed, under state health guidelines, to require vaccine recipients to prove a medical condition that would qualify them because it could create barriers at a time when Texas is trying to vaccinate most of its 29 million residents.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Keep wearing your mask, health officials say after Gov. Greg Abbott lifts mask mandate
Some variants of COVID-19 are more contagious and researchers believe they can reinfect people who already have gotten the virus. Doctors and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend wearing masks.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas National Guard deployed to get COVID-19 vaccines to older Texans who are homebound
Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants the majority of Texans who are 65 and older to be inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of March. He said the state could announce more eligibility for the vaccines next month.
