Advocates for the elderly and disabled are fighting a proposal in the Legislature that they say would reduce the wages of the personal care attendants who provide services through the Medicaid Community-Based Alternatives waiver program.
federal health reform
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Health care
Despite Uproar, State Lawmakers Pursue Medicare Overhaul
Across the nation, U.S. House Republicans are getting an earful from their constituents about a GOP budget proposal to overhaul federal Medicare. But that message hasn’t made its way to Texas, where state lawmakers are still angling to take control of the program.
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Health care
House Gives First OK to Medicaid Waiver Plan
House lawmakers have given an early okay to Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to ask Washington for a block grant to run Medicaid — the joint state-federal health care program for children, the disabled and the very poor — as Texas sees fit.
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Health care
Kathleen Sebelius: The TT Interview
In an exclusive on-camera interview with The Texas Tribune on Friday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discussed the federal government’s efforts to cooperate with a state like Texas, where GOP leaders have been hostile to the Affordable Care Act.
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Health care
Update: House Gives Early OK to Rural Hospitals Hiring Docs
The House has tentatively voted to let rural, critical-access hospitals in counties with populations of 50,000 or less hire doctors — partially lifting a long-standing ban on hospitals directly employing physicians.
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Health care
Patient Privacy Bill Gets Early House Approval
House lawmakers have given an early endorsement to Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to protect Texans’ private medical information.
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Health care
Bill Aims to Expand Organ Registry, Save Lives
Lawmakers are hoping nonprofit organizations can do a better job of recruiting organ donors and saving lives. HB 2904 would transfer management of the state-run organ-donation registry from an agency to a new collaboration of nonprofits, a shift supporters say will reduce the number of Texans who die while waiting on the list.
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Health care
Senate Approves Medicaid Savings Bill
The Senate unanimously approved Sen. Jane Nelson’s bill to find extensive cost savings in Texas’ Medicaid program, the primary health care provider for children, the disabled and the very poor.
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Health care
David Dewhurst: The TT Interview
With less than five weeks left to go in the session, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst sat down with the Tribune to talk about his future political plans, the status of the budget in the Senate and in the biennial parley between the Senate and the House, redistricting and the tug-of-war over the Rainy Day Fund.
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Health care
Video: Lance Armstrong at TribLive
At Thursday’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed Lance Armstrong about the need to protect cancer research funding in austere times and his advocacy on behalf of an indoor workplace smoking ban.
