HHS Approves Waiver Allowing Texas To Provide Medicaid Coverage to Low-Income Women With Breast or Cervical Cancer
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Oct. 15 approved a waiver that will allow Texas to extend Medicaid coverage to uninsured women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program administered by the CDC (HHS release, 10/15). Under the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act, enacted in October 2000, states can apply for waivers to expand their Medicaid programs to include uninsured women younger than age 65 diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer. Women who qualify will receive Medicaid coverage throughout their cancer treatment. The federal government will cover 85% of the cost of the treatment (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/3). Thompson said, "This expansion will ensure potentially life saving treatment to Texas women who otherwise would not have access to critical cancer care. Rapid access to appropriate care may allow women who otherwise might die of their disease to instead lead long, productive lives." Texas is the 46th state to receive a waiver under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act (HHS release, 10/15).
Perry, Sanchez Reaction
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Oct. 15 announced the approval of the waiver at Memorial Health System of East Texas. "No woman in this state, regardless of her financial means, should have to fight breast or cervical cancer alone," he said. Texas lawmakers in 2000 approved the state's participation in the program, but did not originally allocate funds for the program. Under the waiver, Texas will spend $1.1 million for the program, and the federal government will provide $3 million. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez, a Laredo businessman, said that Texas could have had more than $400 million for health care programs if Perry had not vetoed a Medicaid reform bill passed in the state Legislature earlier this year (AP/Dallas Morning News, 10/16). The legislation would have required the state Health and Human Services Commission to request federal funds for local health care programs (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/26). The bill also would have required the commission to request federal waivers to allow the state's Medicaid program to cover cancer, diabetes and other prevention programs for uninsured women who do not qualify for Medicaid. The legislation would not have covered the cost of treatment. "As usual, Perry's decisions put a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging artery, ignore the enormous cost-saving potential of prevention and force low-income women in the state of Texas to once again pay the 'Perry premium,'" Sanchez said. In his veto message in June, Perry called the Medicaid reform bill "unnecessary and too costly" (AP/Dallas Morning News, 10/16).
