After the chief of the attorney general’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Division was forced out last year, two-thirds of attorneys have quit the unit, leaving it at its smallest size since Paxton took office.
Health care
In-depth reporting on public health, healthcare policy, hospitals, and wellness issues shaping communities across Texas, from The Texas Tribune.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Texas Supreme Court hears legal challenge to ban on gender-transition care for kids
A fight over allowing transgender children to access puberty blockers and hormone therapies could hinge on justices’ interpretation of parental rights.
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Demographics
Texas attorney general requests transgender youths’ patient records from Georgia clinic
This is at least the second time Ken Paxton’s office has sought such records from an out-of-state provider since Texas banned transition-related care for kids.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Hispanic and teen fertility rates increase after abortion restrictions
More than 16,000 babies were born in Texas in 2022 than in 2021, a new study from the University of Houston shows.
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Health care
More Texans than ever before enrolled in ACA health plans in 2024, feds say
The final enrollment numbers, released Wednesday, touched off discussions over whether Texas should create its own marketplace exchange.
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Health care
Bidens invite Kate Cox, Dallas mom who sued to terminate pregnancy, to State of the Union address
The Supreme Court of Texas ruled against Cox’s lawsuit to block the state’s abortion ban. She traveled out of state to have an abortion.
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Foster Care in Texas
Facing pressure from judge, Texas reassigns workers to care for foster kids in unlicensed homes
The move is designed to reduce some of the rotating overtime shifts expected of agency caseworkers at group homes and motels, which have been criticized as dangerous for the children who live there.
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Economy
For Texas’ program of blind merchants, the pandemic shrank opportunities, exposed income gaps
The Business Enterprises of Texas program offers visually impaired vendors food service contracts in government buildings.
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Health care
Online message boards give closer look inside Amarillo’s heated abortion debate
After months of consideration from the Amarillo City Council, an abortion travel ban is gaining support through a new citizen-led petition.
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Health care
Feds approve 12 months of Medicaid coverage for low-income Texas moms
The move caps a yearslong effort to extend coverage. Medicaid covers half of all births in Texas.