“The health care vote had more to do with expanding socialism on American soil than it does fixing our health care finance and delivery systems,” Governor Rick Perry said about the health care reform law. “Texas leaders will continue to do everything in our power to fight this federal excess and find ways to protect our families, taxpayers and medical providers from this gross federal overreach.” (Source)
Texas is one of 21 states suing to block the new health care reform law from taking effect, but as a practical matter, the state is preparing to implement the law. An excerpt:
“Already, Texas has developed a plan for adding Medicaid coverage for services at freestanding birth centers, an early requirement of the law. More broadly, Department of Insurance and Medicaid officials have begun working on the two biggest parts of the law for states: expanding Medicaid access and tightening regulation of insurers.
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“One thing nobody disagrees with is that the federal overhaul leaves little time for states to waste. The entire initiative relies on the states for a number of the pieces that are supposed to add up to near-universal health coverage.
“By 2014, for example, Medicaid eligibility will broaden widely, meaning that millions of additional low-income people will be added to states’ insurance rolls. At the same time, states are charged with setting up new insurance exchanges by 2014 so that middle-income people and businesses can have an easier time shopping for insurance coverage…In short, there’s a lot states need to get done in a small amount of time.”
Earlier this year, Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, and Speaker of the House Joe Straus requested that all state agencies cut their budgets by 5 percent, in light of the recession. The Texas Tribune noted that the proposed reductions would mean a one percent decrease for nursing care and a two percent cut for long term care, hospice, and similar providers.
