A bill designed to find cost savings and efficiencies in Texas’ costly Medicaid program — and, more controversially, expand managed care into the Rio Grande Valley — is moving to Senate budget writers for consideration.
federal health reform
Posted in
Health care
Federal Budget Deal Could Shutter Health Centers
The Congressional budget deal reached in Washington this weekend could have dire implications for Texas’ federally qualified health centers — clinics that provide comprehensive care for the uninsured.
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Health care
From Texas to D.C., Debate Over Medicaid Funding Rages
If congressional Republicans’ proposed solution to cutting health care costs — giving states block grants to fund Medicaid — sounds familiar, it’s because it is.
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Health care
How Texas Cities Rank on End-of-Life Care
Want to die comfortably? Move to Corpus Christi. A study of national hospice and hospitalization trends shows the percentage of Medicare patients dying in hospitals there, as opposed to at home or in hospice, is dropping fast.
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Health care
Anti-Abortion Groups Disagree on End-of-Life Legislation
The state’s two leading anti-abortion groups — Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life — agree on where life begins, but not on a law governing how it may come to an end. A house committee will take up the issue today.
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Health care
Medical Board Bill Moves Out of Public Health
The House Public Health Committee put its stamp of approval this morning on a much-watered-down version of Rep. Fred Brown’s Texas Medical Board bill, a measure designed to protect doctors from unfounded complaints.
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Health care
Study: Health Reform’s Effects On Texas
If federal health care reform stays on the books, it will help 5 million Texans get health insurance and increase state health care spending by roughly 10 percent in the next five years, according to the RAND Corporation.
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Health care
Updated: Hospitals, Advocates at Odds Over Preemie Bills
Lawmakers agree that curbing elective inductions of labor and so-called “convenience” cesarean sections would prevent premature births and save the state money. But how best to do it has left child welfare advocates and hospitals at odds.
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Economy
House Budget Shrinks Spending, Slashes Services
The Texas House started with a $164.5 billion budget and ended with the same total. But lawmakers spent the better part of a weekend making changes inside the budget for 2012-13 before giving it their approval, 98 to 49.
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Health care
Insurers Drop Child-Only Plans, Blame Health Reform
Insurers in Texas have stopped offering new child-only policies in protest over a provision of the federal health care overhaul. For children being raised by their grandparents, there are few options left.
