The best of our best from January 31 to February 4.
Medicaid
Posted in
Economy
Texas Won’t Secede — But It Won’t Shut Up Either
Texas leaders aren’t talking about secession, after an outbreak of conversation a couple of years ago. But the germ of the idea remains in the anti-federalist talking points that fueled Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign last year and provided the outline for his book, Fed Up!
Posted in
Health care
Health Care Advocates Offer Emotional Testimony
From patients and parents to nurses and practitioners, the many faces of Texans affected by health care budget cuts gathered at the Capitol today to give an earful to lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee.
Posted in
Health care
Are Payment Reform, Texas Budget In Conflict?
Lawmakers are crafting legislation to make health care more affordable and effective by rewarding doctors who get the best medical outcomes. But the cuts they’re proposing to meet the state’s budget shortfall could hinder some of the same physicians they’re relying on to implement payment reform.
Posted in
Health care
David Dewhurst: The TT Interview
The lieutenant governor believes he knows how to save Texas money and improve patient care by overhauling how doctors and hospitals are paid: with carrots, not sticks. In an interview with the Tribune, he talks about what he sees as the root of the health care crisis, and his proposed solutions.
Posted in
Health care
Suehs Warns Lawmakers On Health Cuts
Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs pulled no punches when he warned Senate lawmakers today what proposed budget cuts will mean: either cutting the number of people served, or the money paid to those who care for them.
Posted in
Health care
Medicaid Cuts Worry Texas Nursing Homes
Texas agencies facing the budget ax say the only thing left to cut are the services they fund. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on fears that many of the state’s nursing homes could be forced to dramatically cut back or even close as a result.
Posted in
Health care
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Grissom on what happens — and doesn’t — when police don’t analyze evidence taken from rape victims, Dehn with video highlights of the Senate debate over photo voter ID, Aguilar on the more than three dozen immigration-related bills waiting for attention in the Legislature, M. Smith on what to do with empty school buildings, Ramshaw on what will happen to hospitals if Medicaid managed care is expanded, C. Smith on how the state’s budget cuts could affect churches and other faith-based organizations, Philpott’s report for the Trib and KUT News on how the tight state budget could affect mental health care, yours truly on why the initial budget proposal isn’t really a plan for state spending, Stiles with a searchable database of the latest campaign finance reports, and Galbraith on the rising use of coal and wind to generate electricity in Texas: The best of our best from January 24 to 28, 2011.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: How Deep Do Medicaid Cuts Go?
Lawmakers have proposed cutting Medicaid provider rates 10 percent to help meet the state’s budget crisis. But health care groups suggest the cuts are far deeper.
Posted in
Health care
John Zerwas: The TT Interview
The state representative and anesthesiologist from Simonton on why he filed the House’s first bill to implement a key piece of federal health-care reform and was the first in his party to openly suggest that dropping out of Medicaid wasn’t such a great idea after all.
