The latest health care news from The Texas Tribune.
Lawmakers have approved carving prescription drugs into Medicaid managed care to save Texas money — an estimated $100 million over the next biennium. But pharmacists worry lower reimbursement rates will drive them under. Full Story
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A joint interim committee is charging ahead in the state's effort to persuade the federal government to give it more flexibility to run its Medicaid program. Full Story
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The Legislature's ranking public health leaders praise the success of the Women's Health Program. But they won't let Planned Parenthood participate in order to save the program from extinction. Full Story
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid today announced the indictment of seven Texans who allegedly conspired to commit $375 million in health care fraud. Full Story
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Texas may be challenging federal health care reform in court, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, state lawmakers are still monitoring how the law will affect costs and care in Texas. Full Story
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The Women's Health Program is set to expire in March because the federal government won't allow Texas to exclude clinics like Planned Parenthood. This interactive map compares the locations of those clinics to the locations of other providers. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers met on Monday to address a pressing problem: the possibility the state will really have to implement federal health care reforms. Full Story
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The doctor performing Gov. Rick Perry's clavicle surgery on Friday happens to be the president of the Texas Medical Association — and a vocal critic of some of the governor's women's health policies. Full Story
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A program created to help insurance-seekers in Texas cut through the complexities of federal health care reforms is shutting down in April, years before the law goes into full effect. Full Story
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Texas joined six other states and a handful of Catholic organizations in suing the federal government to block requirements that all employers include coverage for contraceptives in employees' health care benefits. Full Story
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Despite their striking similarities, Texas’ abortion sonogram bill and Virginia’s abortion sonogram bill were debated at very different times, and under very different circumstances — leading to a very different national reaction. Full Story
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Texas has joined six other states and a handful of Catholic organizations in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a new health care rule approved by the federal government that would require all employers to include coverage for contraceptives in employees' health care benefits. Full Story
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Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs signed a rule today that formally bans Planned Parenthood clinics and other "affiliates of abortion providers" from the Women's Health Program — likely ending the program. Full Story
At the national level, voters are concerned about pocketbook issues, while at home immigration is the top problem. Full Story
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The number of family-planning contractors statewide continues to drop in the face of dwindling state funds. Use this interactive map to see which family-planning clinics received funding in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Full Story
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There is no consensus on the benefits of managed health care in the Rio Grande Valley, which had been the subject of a moratorium in three Valley counties. Full Story
On Friday, a student-organized rally on the University of Texas at Austin campus applauded reforms intended to increase access to birth control for women. Counterprotesters responded with their own anti-birth control message. Full Story
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In this excerpt from his new book, Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson examines the history behind Texas' demographic changes — and what it means for the future. Full Story
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Aguilar on an environmental battle in South Texas, Galbraith on the impact of the drought, Grissom on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton and Theobald on plans for greater scrutiny of faculty performance, Murphy on Rick Perry's campaign donors and expenditures, Ramsey on where we stand on redistricting, Ramshaw on the intense interest in stem cell rules, Root on a congressman's controversial pipeline holdings, M. Smith on the backlash against student testing and Tan on the fight for a new medical school in Austin: The best of our best content from February 6-10, 2012. Full Story
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President Obama's compromise on religiously affiliated employers and insurance coverage for birth control is sparking criticism in Texas — just like his administration's original rule. Full Story