County judges urge ‘Texas way’ to address Medicaid coverage gap
County judges from the state’s six largest counties are urging members of the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee to find a “Texas way” to provide care for 1.9 million Texans living without health care coverage as the state declines to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
In a letter sent Wednesday, judges from Travis, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Tarrant and Bexar counties said the so-called coverage gap places an expensive burden on urban counties that are required pay for indigent care.
The letter was delivered ahead of the committee’s discussion Thursday about ways Texas might negotiate with the federal government to provide more care for poor people without broadly expanding Medicaid. Texas has so far rejected that expansion, once a requirement and linchpin of the 2010 federal law commonly referred to as “Obamacare.” The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled the federal government could not force states to expand Medicaid.
As a result, more than 1.9 million Texans between the ages of 18 and 64 are uninsured because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid, yet they don’t make enough to qualify for federal subsidies on the insurance marketplace.
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The judges cited a study that found public and private providers in Texas are stuck with $4 billion a year in costs that can’t be recouped by insurance or entitlement programs.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/county-judges-urge-texas-way-to-address-medicaid-c/ng3HZ/
