House approves bill focused on mental health insurance benefits
Texas House members approved a bill that would prevent health insurance companies from offering mental health benefits differently from medical benefits. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/26/UP9A0070.JPG)
-
![Texas Tribune Conversation event with Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and Rep. Four Price, R-Amarillo, on January 26, 2017]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Houston foster child death spurs concerns over placement shortages
The death of a 15-year-old girl who ran away from a Houston Child Protective Services office on Sunday has advocates and legislators grappling with the worst-case scenario of the state's shortage of homes for abused and neglected children. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/03/15/DFPS_building_LS_TT.jpg)
![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
House panel hears testimony on child welfare religious liberty bill
House State Affairs Committee members heard testimony Wednesday afternoon on House Bill 3859, which would allow faith-based organizations to exercise their “sincerely held religious beliefs” when participating as providers in Texas’ child welfare system. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/04/28/6F6A9010.jpg)
![State Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, the chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, listened to testimony about how researchers use fetal tissue on April 28, 2016.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles -
Texas House budget writers send budget to full House with massive health care cut
“I am absolutely confident that services won’t be compromised," state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, said of the cuts. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/02/15/_BDC3019_HunterZerwas.jpg)
![Nelda Hunter, House Appropriations Committee clerk, confers with chair State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, during a public hearing Feb. 15, 2017 on health and human services funding and border security.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
New in Trib+Health: GOP health care overhaul pulled
In this week's edition of the Trib+Health newsletter: The GOP repeal and replace bill for the Affordable Care Act is pulled, another Zika case surfaces in Dallas County and an interview with Spencer Berthelsen, former managing director of Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/03/Trib-Plus-Health-leadart002.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
GOP plan to overhaul health care falls apart
The American Health Care Act was abruptly pulled Friday ahead of a scheduled vote on the legislation. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/02/28/Trump_addresses_Congress_3_TT.jpg)
![President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28, 2017.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
Gohmert, Weber among holdouts as House postpones health bill vote
A landmark Republican overhaul to the country's health care system may have died in its track Thursday. Three Texas Republicans were among those pushing for changes to the bill before agreeing to support it. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/02/28/Trump_addresses_Congress_TT.jpg)
![President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28, 2017.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
Texas Republicans divided as health care overhaul hangs in the balance
In Wednesday's dawn-to-dusk fight over repealing the law that served as a central campaign issue for Republicans over the last four election cycles, Texans were right in the middle. Full Story
![President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28, 2017.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
Texans in Congress anticipate controversial health care vote
The dilemma for many House Republicans — including Texans — is this: Anger their conservative base, or risk venturing into Trump's crosshairs? Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/03/21/Gloomy_Capitol_AL_TT.jpg)
![The U.S. Capitol on March 21, 2017.]()
Credit: Abby Livingston -
Gov. Greg Abbott's top health appointee draws bipartisan fire at hearing
Both Republican and Democratic members of a key legislative oversight committee unloaded on Gov. Greg Abbott’s top health appointee Thursday, putting him and others on the hot seat for hours about alleged contracting abuses. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/08/15/StateAffairs0379TT_.JPG)
![Charles Smith, executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, testified Aug. 15, 2016, before the House State Affairs Committee on contracting procedures.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Child welfare workers fear legislative push to outsource their jobs
Former and current caseworkers say a plan to move case management services to nonprofits could be problematic and that no one in power is listening to their concerns. Full Story
![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
After years of insisting on "repeal," Ted Cruz walks a fine line on health care
"If Republicans take this opportunity and blow it, we will rightly be considered a laughingstock," U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday regarding divisions among Republicans on the leading proposal to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/03/11/Cruz_ReaganDay_TT.jpg)
![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was a keynote speaker at Dallas County Republican Reagan Day Dinner on March 11, 2017.]()
Credit: Laura Buckman for The Texas Tribune -
Senate gives approval to two abortion-related bills
The upper chamber gave final passage to a bill that would ban what opponents call "partial-birth" abortions and put restrictions on donating fetal tissue, and initial approval to one that would ban doctors from performing dilation and evacuation abortions. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/12/14/CLINCS3596.jpg)
![A woman reflects quietly in the waiting room at Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast's ambulatory surgical center in Houston Friday, August 2, 2013.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
New in Trib+Health: Sizing impact of GOP health plan
In this week's edition of the Trib+Health newsletter: New analyses demonstrate the impact of GOP health plan on the numbers of uninsured, the return of the 24-hour resident shift and an interview with Jennifer Sanner of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Full Story
![Article thumbnail]()
-
At SXSW, Joe Biden pledges to work with Trump to end "cancer as we know it"
In Austin on Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden said he hopes the Trump administration will be committed as the Obama administration was to the goal of eradicating cancer. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/03/12/Biden_SXSWTT.jpg)
![Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the Biden Cancer Initiative at South by Southwest in Austin on March 12, 2017.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Brian Snyder -
Ted Cruz: New health care bill doomed in the Senate without changes
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday that he has "significant concerns" about the new House health care plan, though he's optimistic those differences can be resolved. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/09/07/TRIBUNE_JUDGES_CRUZ.jpg)
![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., to consider five nominees to fill vacancies on federal courts in Texas. The hearing was Sept. 7, 2016.]()
Credit: Allison Shelley -
Texas House panel leaves bill requiring burial of fetal remains pending in committee
The Texas House Committee on State Affairs weighed a bill on Wednesday that would require the burial or cremation of fetal remain. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/06/Fetal_Protest_2_CR_TT.jpg)
![Alli Pierce joined protestors of the fetal remains burial rule outside of the Governor's Mansion on January 6, 2016 in freezing temperatures.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for THe Texas Tribune -
Proposed federal health plan brings uncertainty in Texas
After Republicans in Congress unveiled their long-awaited plan to repeal the 2010 health law on Monday, the potential impacts of the proposed bill in Texas are unclear. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/02/05/Medical-App.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Todd Wiseman / Becca Aaronson -
Hundreds of Texans testify to senate committee on "bathroom bill"
The Senate State Affairs Committee took up the so-called bathroom bill on Tuesday and voted to send it to the full Texas Senate after hearing more than 13 hours of testimony. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/16/UT-Bathroom-002.jpg)
![An all-gender restroom at The University of Texas at Austin.]()
Credit: Qiling Wang / The Texas Tribune -
Breastfeeding protections get a hearing before House lawmakers
Bills lawmakers considered Monday would let nursing moms breastfeed virtually anywhere they choose and establish workplace protections for them so they don't have to pump or nurse in the bathroom. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/07/17/TXT-Clinic-CCR009.jpg)
![Patients wait to be seen at the People's Community Clinic in Austin, which provides state-subsidized women's health services to low-income women, in July 2014.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond