In the fires of the fall election campaign, no single topic blazed hotter than health care, as Republicans stoked voter fury with talk of “death panels” and “Obamacare.” Now, Texas Republicans are backing away from rhetoric about dumping Medicaid as a new state report finds that leaving it would cost the state far more to do far less.
In 2009, the Legislature requested that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Insurance issue a report on the benefits and perils of quitting Medicaid. That report, “Impact on Texas If Medicaid Is Eliminated,” was released on Dec. 3. If hardcore conservatives were hoping it would provide ammunition for their campaign against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (aka federal health care reform), they quickly found it was shooting blanks. On average per month in 2009, 3.3 million Texans relied on Medicaid for health insurance or long-term care, while another 450,000 used the companion Children’s Health Insurance Program. Texas already leads the nation in uninsured citizens; if it drops Medicaid, the authors warned, 2.6 million of those Medicaid and CHIP recipients could find themselves uninsured. That’s another 2.6 million Texans faced with an impossible decision: go to the doctor and risk a crippling bill, or don’t go and risk their health. The report also found that, contrary to some anti-immigrant rhetoric, Medicaid is not being swamped by undocumented foreigners. While immigrants are three times more likely than Texas citizens to be uninsured, they only accounted for less than 1% of 2009 Medicaid recipients.
Medicaid and the Ledge: Throw ‘Em in the Street? Austin News – AustinChronicle.com