Texas House Approves Plan to Simplify Medicaid Enrollment for Children
The Texas House on May 18 "resoundingly" approved a two-year, $119 million plan to "simplify" the Medicaid enrollment process for children, the Dallas Morning News reports (Slover, Dallas Morning News, 5/19). The plan would "streamline a complex application into a simple form," and would require parents to give face-to-face interviews with state officials "only if they fail to follow the new rules" (AP/Houston Chronicle, 5/18). In addition, the bipartisan plan includes "beefed-up incentives for children to get preventative care and treatment in doctor's offices, rather than costly emergency rooms." Under the new plan, children also would be able to have continuous eligibility for six months and eventually for one year, with no interruptions because of "fluctuations in their parents' income." Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is expected to sign the measure, which will take effect on Jan. 1 if approved (Dallas Morning News, 5/19).
Teacher's Health Insurance Plan Advances
The Texas legislature has also made headway on health insurance for teachers, with House and Senate negotiators on May 18 agreeing on a $1.24 billion school employee benefits package that would "ease the health insurance crisis in small districts and eventually bring all 1,040 districts ... into a unified plan." If approved, the plan would establish the first statewide health insurance program for teachers. A House-Senate conference committee is expected to meet "as early as" May 21 to "formally" approve the proposal. The measure would then go to both chambers for consideration before heading to the governor's desk. Perry "has indicated" that he supports the measure (Stutz, Dallas Morning News, 5/19).
