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The Texas Department of Insurance has issued  for health care “navigators,” the workers who assist people seeking health insurance in the federal marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

The rules address some of the criticisms aired recently by Democrats and health care advocates, while also broadening the definition of “navigator” to allow additional organizations — not just those that received federal grants — to hire and train navigators.

“These rules will help ensure Texans have confidence that anyone registered as a navigator has passed appropriate background checks and received the training they need to safeguard a consumer’s most sensitive and personal information,” Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber said in a news release issued earlier this week.

The rules require the consumer guides to receive 20 hours of state-specific training, in addition to the 20 online hours required by federal rules, to undergo background checks and to provide proof of identity. The rules also prohibit navigators from charging consumers, selling or negotiating health insurance coverage, recommending a specific health plan, or engaging in electioneering activities or otherwise supporting a candidate running for a political office.

Texas is among at least 17 Republican-controlled states that have restricted the groups, including churches, colleges and social service agencies, that won federal grants to help people buy insurance coverage in new online marketplaces.

Texas Democrats and representatives from various health care organizations and nonprofits   at public hearings that the proposed rules would impede navigators’ ability to educate people seeking health coverage, and divert time and funding away from their primary objective: helping people find health insurance.

In response to those comments, the department removed from the proposed rules a $50 registration fee for each navigator. It also reduced the training requirements to 20 hours of state-specific training, from 40 hours in the proposed rules.

“There was no justification for the original proposal other than conservative politics,” state Rep. , D-Fort Worth, said in a statement. “So I’m glad TDI has relented and come up with training requirements that are at least somewhat logical.”

Burnam said that as originally proposed, the training requirements would have cost up to $800 per navigator, and that the revised rules would save each navigator group thousands of dollars.

Organizations in the state were awarded $11 million through the Affordable Care Act to hire and train navigators to help people purchase health plans on the federal health insurance marketplace. In addition to the federal grant program, many health clinics and hospitals rely on certified application counselors and in-person assisters to educate uninsured residents on the law and help them create an account on the federal health insurance marketplace.

Although the state regulations do not apply to certified application counselors or in-person assisters, the department clarified in the finalized rules that any organization can hire “navigators,” so long as those individuals undergo the 40 hours of training, including 20 hours of state-specific training; register with the state; and comply with the state’s rules.

“The availability of more than just grant-recipient navigators in Texas will broaden the pool of navigators able to help Texans find and apply for health coverage under the exchange,” the rules say. Furthermore, “This will create a level playing field for all navigators in the state, and will help ensure that consumers receive enrollment assistance in a health benefit exchange from a qualified navigator.”

³Ò´Ç±¹.Ìý, who staunchly opposes the federal health reform law,  the additional rules in September, citing consumer privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers increased scrutiny of the navigator program in Texas after Project Veritas, a group led by conservative activist James O’Keefe, released a series of videos  in Dallas encouraging applicants to lie on their applications.

Texans must apply before March 31 to receive federal tax credits to help pay for private coverage on the federal marketplace. Navigators must register by March 1, and comply with the state’s additional training requirements by May 1.

Given the tight deadline, Democrats have alleged that the rules are politically motivated and are intended to curb enrollment in health plans offered in the federal marketplace. And despite the modifications, some Democrats and organizations that have hired and trained navigators say the rules will still increase costs, and take time away from navigators’ efforts.

Martha Blaine, executive director of the Community Council of Greater Dallas, which is among the groups that have received a federal grant to hire navigators, said the 12 navigators working for her organization have already undergone background checks and met other requirements in the state’s rules. She said she is unsure whether those efforts will have to be duplicated to meet the state’s requirements.

“It’s a bad use of resources, time and money,” she said.

More than one in four Texans does not have health insurance. Of the 6.2 million Texans without health insurance, 28 percent would qualify for tax credits to help them purchase private health plans on the federal marketplace, and 14 percent would qualify for Medicaid coverage, according to the .

Only 2 percent of Texas’ uninsured residents — 118,500 individuals — have found a health plan on the federal marketplace, according to January enrollment figures released by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

“Our leadership, specifically, has gone above and beyond to try and make the Affordable Care Act unsuccessful in Texas,” Tiffany Hogue, health care campaign director for the Texas Organizing Project, a group that advocates for low-income Texans, said last week, before the final rules were issued. Republican leaders’ decision not to set up a state-run health insurance marketplace or expand Medicaid to cover impoverished adults have made it more difficult for uninsured Texans to find health coverage, she said, and the additional navigator rules are “just insult to injury.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/news/texas-finalizes-rules-for-health-care-navigators/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

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Saying that  for the federal navigator program are politically motivated and would create unnecessary training requirements and registration fees, Democratic legislators on Monday pushed Texas Department of Insurance officials to justify their plan. 

“There is little question that anything related to the Affordable Care Act in the state of Texas has political implications,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. “The problem with that is that we live in a state that has the highest rate of uninsured in the country. We shouldn’t make it political.”

He and other Democrats said that the proposed state rules would impede navigators’ ability to help consumers gain health insurance coverage.

Gov. Rick Perry, who staunchly opposes the federal health reform law, the rules in September, citing consumer privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers increased scrutiny of the navigator program in Texas after Project Veritas, a group led by conservative activist James O’Keefe, released a series of videos in Dallas encouraging applicants to lie on their applications.

“To expect a noninsurance person to get up to speed on the complications of not only insurance, but of the ACA, in the 20-30 hours required by the federal law is just insufficient,” state Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, said in defense of the new rules. “We also know that in Texas, the navigators have been caught encouraging people to lie about their income levels and medical histories.”

Organizations in the state were awarded $11 million through the Affordable Care Act to hire and train navigators to help people purchase health plans on the federal health insurance marketplace. The federal program requires navigators to undergo 20 to 30 hours of training. The state’s proposed rules require an additional 40 hours of training and a fee to register with the Department of Insurance (TDI). The department estimates the cost of training and registration could range from $200 to $800 per navigator.

“The proposed rules address insufficiencies in federal regulations and make the training and qualifications of navigators in our state more uniform and readily apparent to consumers and service providers,” John Greeley, a spokesman for the department, said in an email.

In public comments submitted to the state, state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said that he had obtained documents from the state insurance department indicating that it chose a 40-hour requirement because of political influence. The department has claimed that the documents are confidential under attorney-client privilege, said Burnam’s staff, and wouldn’t allow him to release the documents to the public.

Greeley confirmed that the insurance department released confidential documents to Burnam at his request under special legislative privilege. The responsive documents contained protected attorney work associated with rule development, and personally identifiable information. 

“The lack of any rational basis for the determination of the hour requirements, combined with the apparent political influence from officials who have publicly dedicated themselves to obstruct the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, makes these training requirements the very definition of arbitrary,” Burnam said in his comments.

The state’s proposed rules also prohibit navigators from charging individuals for their services, selling or soliciting health insurance, recommending specific health plans, providing guidance on comparing the benefits of specific plans, and engaging in certain political activities, such as campaigning or promoting a political party or candidate.

The department held an earlier  on the proposed rules in December. Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber said the department would consider public comments submitted before 5 p.m. Monday before finalizing the rules.

Jamie Walker, associate commissioner for the licensing services section of the insurance department, said officials met with members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to discuss the proposed regulations, and the federal government could not identify anything in the proposed rules that would be immediately pre-empted by federal law. “TDI staff will continue to work with HHS,” she said.

Texans must apply before March 31 to receive federal tax credits to help pay for private coverage on the federal marketplace. The proposed rules requiring additional training would take effect on March 1.

Given the tight deadline, Democrats and representatives from various health care organizations and nonprofits testified at Monday’s hearing that the additional training requirements would impede navigators’ ability to help Texans find coverage. They also argued that the rules would strip the navigators of their primary responsibility, as they would not be able to offer sufficient guidance to help people choose health care coverage.

Watson also hinted that the specific training requirements in the proposed rules seem to indicate that the state plans to contract a private company — likely a  that the state already works with — to offer the training program.

“This would put public money that should be going to help people find coverage into a private enterprise’s hands,” he said.

More than one in four Texans does not have health insurance. Of the 6.2 million Texans without health insurance, 28 percent would qualify for tax credits to help them purchase private health plans on the federal marketplace, and 14 percent would qualify for Medicaid coverage, according to the . (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

“Given the strong feelings related to Obamacare, it is difficult — impossible even — to discuss the matter without the interjection of politics,” said state Rep. , D-Austin. “We’re talking about the health and well-being of Texans here, and I don’t want that to get lost in this discussion.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/insurance/texas-democrats-say-navigator-rule-politically-motivated/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

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The number of claims filed for medical and family planning services in the new state-run Texas Women’s Health Program has dropped since the state ousted Planned Parenthood from it and set up its own program without federal financing, according to figures from the Health and Human Services Commission.

Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the commission, wrote in an email that the program is “running at about 77 percent of the number of claims this year compared to last year.” She added that the agency expects to “see a similar trend with the number of women served,” though those numbers are more difficult to calculate.

“We expected to see a drop-off in the number of claims when we moved to the state program because we knew some women wouldn’t want to change doctors,” Goodman said. “We’ve been able to find new doctors for women who call us, and we’ve got the capacity to increase the number of women we’re serving in the state program.”

In 2011, Texas lawmakers demanded that the state enforce a rule prohibiting women’s health care providers affiliated with abortion facilities, such as Planned Parenthood, from participating in the Medicaid Women’s Health Program. At the time, Planned Parenthood clinics — which could not perform abortions at facilities accepting state and federal funding through the program — served 40 percent of women enrolled in it, according to the health commission.

The federal government responded to Texas’ enforcement of the rule by cutting off its $9-to-$1 match for the program — more than $30 million annually — and the state launched the Texas Women’s Health Program without federal financing on Jan. 1. Lawmakers have budgeted $71 million in state funds to pay for the program in the 2014-15 biennium.

While Planned Parenthood continues to provide services with community donations and other revenue, Danielle Wells, a spokeswoman with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said many patients have expressed frustration “that politicians are telling them where they should and should not go for their health care.”

“We’re still hearing from patients who were in the program and were unable to locate a provider or schedule services in a timely manner,” she said. The exclusion of Planned Parenthood requires many women to travel farther to find an available provider, she said, and to make “tough decisions about paying out of pocket for care or simply putting off vital care that could potentially save lives.”

Amanda Stevenson, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a three-year study evaluating the impact of the 2011 women’s health policy changes, said determining whether women still have adequate access to care is complicated. While the health commission is working hard to enroll new providers to replace Planned Parenthood, she said women may delay care because they do not know which providers are available or end up paying out of pocket costs by continuing to seek services at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

“We’re seeing obviously that access is diminishing in places, particularly [those] that rely heavily on Planned Parenthood providers,” she said. But other areas of the state have not been as affected by the policy changes, she added, referencing a created by the researchers that shows how the 2011 policy changes and funding cuts have affected women’s health services regionally.

She also noted that more data is necessary to determine whether the percent reduction in claims represents a persistent trend.

“If things were getting better then we would expect consistent reduction in that proportion, but it’s not happening,” Stevenson said. “There might be a trend, and we might see it, but it’s not enough here to say that it is.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/news/texas-reproductive-services/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

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The Texas Department of Insurance has issued  for health care “navigators,” the workers who assist people seeking health insurance in the federal marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

The rules address some of the criticisms aired recently by Democrats and health care advocates, while also broadening the definition of “navigator” to allow additional organizations — not just those that received federal grants — to hire and train navigators.

“These rules will help ensure Texans have confidence that anyone registered as a navigator has passed appropriate background checks and received the training they need to safeguard a consumer’s most sensitive and personal information,” Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber said in a news release issued earlier this week.

The rules require the consumer guides to receive 20 hours of state-specific training, in addition to the 20 online hours required by federal rules, to undergo background checks and to provide proof of identity. The rules also prohibit navigators from charging consumers, selling or negotiating health insurance coverage, recommending a specific health plan, or engaging in electioneering activities or otherwise supporting a candidate running for a political office.

Texas is among at least 17 Republican-controlled states that have restricted the groups, including churches, colleges and social service agencies, that won federal grants to help people buy insurance coverage in new online marketplaces.

Texas Democrats and representatives from various health care organizations and nonprofits   at public hearings that the proposed rules would impede navigators’ ability to educate people seeking health coverage, and divert time and funding away from their primary objective: helping people find health insurance.

In response to those comments, the department removed from the proposed rules a $50 registration fee for each navigator. It also reduced the training requirements to 20 hours of state-specific training, from 40 hours in the proposed rules.

“There was no justification for the original proposal other than conservative politics,” state Rep. , D-Fort Worth, said in a statement. “So I’m glad TDI has relented and come up with training requirements that are at least somewhat logical.”

Burnam said that as originally proposed, the training requirements would have cost up to $800 per navigator, and that the revised rules would save each navigator group thousands of dollars.

Organizations in the state were awarded $11 million through the Affordable Care Act to hire and train navigators to help people purchase health plans on the federal health insurance marketplace. In addition to the federal grant program, many health clinics and hospitals rely on certified application counselors and in-person assisters to educate uninsured residents on the law and help them create an account on the federal health insurance marketplace.

Although the state regulations do not apply to certified application counselors or in-person assisters, the department clarified in the finalized rules that any organization can hire “navigators,” so long as those individuals undergo the 40 hours of training, including 20 hours of state-specific training; register with the state; and comply with the state’s rules.

“The availability of more than just grant-recipient navigators in Texas will broaden the pool of navigators able to help Texans find and apply for health coverage under the exchange,” the rules say. Furthermore, “This will create a level playing field for all navigators in the state, and will help ensure that consumers receive enrollment assistance in a health benefit exchange from a qualified navigator.”

³Ò´Ç±¹.Ìý, who staunchly opposes the federal health reform law,  the additional rules in September, citing consumer privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers increased scrutiny of the navigator program in Texas after Project Veritas, a group led by conservative activist James O’Keefe, released a series of videos  in Dallas encouraging applicants to lie on their applications.

Texans must apply before March 31 to receive federal tax credits to help pay for private coverage on the federal marketplace. Navigators must register by March 1, and comply with the state’s additional training requirements by May 1.

Given the tight deadline, Democrats have alleged that the rules are politically motivated and are intended to curb enrollment in health plans offered in the federal marketplace. And despite the modifications, some Democrats and organizations that have hired and trained navigators say the rules will still increase costs, and take time away from navigators’ efforts.

Martha Blaine, executive director of the Community Council of Greater Dallas, which is among the groups that have received a federal grant to hire navigators, said the 12 navigators working for her organization have already undergone background checks and met other requirements in the state’s rules. She said she is unsure whether those efforts will have to be duplicated to meet the state’s requirements.

“It’s a bad use of resources, time and money,” she said.

More than one in four Texans does not have health insurance. Of the 6.2 million Texans without health insurance, 28 percent would qualify for tax credits to help them purchase private health plans on the federal marketplace, and 14 percent would qualify for Medicaid coverage, according to the .

Only 2 percent of Texas’ uninsured residents — 118,500 individuals — have found a health plan on the federal marketplace, according to January enrollment figures released by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

“Our leadership, specifically, has gone above and beyond to try and make the Affordable Care Act unsuccessful in Texas,” Tiffany Hogue, health care campaign director for the Texas Organizing Project, a group that advocates for low-income Texans, said last week, before the final rules were issued. Republican leaders’ decision not to set up a state-run health insurance marketplace or expand Medicaid to cover impoverished adults have made it more difficult for uninsured Texans to find health coverage, she said, and the additional navigator rules are “just insult to injury.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/news/texas-finalizes-rules-for-health-care-navigators/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

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Saying that  for the federal navigator program are politically motivated and would create unnecessary training requirements and registration fees, Democratic legislators on Monday pushed Texas Department of Insurance officials to justify their plan. 

“There is little question that anything related to the Affordable Care Act in the state of Texas has political implications,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. “The problem with that is that we live in a state that has the highest rate of uninsured in the country. We shouldn’t make it political.”

He and other Democrats said that the proposed state rules would impede navigators’ ability to help consumers gain health insurance coverage.

Gov. Rick Perry, who staunchly opposes the federal health reform law, the rules in September, citing consumer privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers increased scrutiny of the navigator program in Texas after Project Veritas, a group led by conservative activist James O’Keefe, released a series of videos in Dallas encouraging applicants to lie on their applications.

“To expect a noninsurance person to get up to speed on the complications of not only insurance, but of the ACA, in the 20-30 hours required by the federal law is just insufficient,” state Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, said in defense of the new rules. “We also know that in Texas, the navigators have been caught encouraging people to lie about their income levels and medical histories.”

Organizations in the state were awarded $11 million through the Affordable Care Act to hire and train navigators to help people purchase health plans on the federal health insurance marketplace. The federal program requires navigators to undergo 20 to 30 hours of training. The state’s proposed rules require an additional 40 hours of training and a fee to register with the Department of Insurance (TDI). The department estimates the cost of training and registration could range from $200 to $800 per navigator.

“The proposed rules address insufficiencies in federal regulations and make the training and qualifications of navigators in our state more uniform and readily apparent to consumers and service providers,” John Greeley, a spokesman for the department, said in an email.

In public comments submitted to the state, state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said that he had obtained documents from the state insurance department indicating that it chose a 40-hour requirement because of political influence. The department has claimed that the documents are confidential under attorney-client privilege, said Burnam’s staff, and wouldn’t allow him to release the documents to the public.

Greeley confirmed that the insurance department released confidential documents to Burnam at his request under special legislative privilege. The responsive documents contained protected attorney work associated with rule development, and personally identifiable information. 

“The lack of any rational basis for the determination of the hour requirements, combined with the apparent political influence from officials who have publicly dedicated themselves to obstruct the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, makes these training requirements the very definition of arbitrary,” Burnam said in his comments.

The state’s proposed rules also prohibit navigators from charging individuals for their services, selling or soliciting health insurance, recommending specific health plans, providing guidance on comparing the benefits of specific plans, and engaging in certain political activities, such as campaigning or promoting a political party or candidate.

The department held an earlier  on the proposed rules in December. Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber said the department would consider public comments submitted before 5 p.m. Monday before finalizing the rules.

Jamie Walker, associate commissioner for the licensing services section of the insurance department, said officials met with members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to discuss the proposed regulations, and the federal government could not identify anything in the proposed rules that would be immediately pre-empted by federal law. “TDI staff will continue to work with HHS,” she said.

Texans must apply before March 31 to receive federal tax credits to help pay for private coverage on the federal marketplace. The proposed rules requiring additional training would take effect on March 1.

Given the tight deadline, Democrats and representatives from various health care organizations and nonprofits testified at Monday’s hearing that the additional training requirements would impede navigators’ ability to help Texans find coverage. They also argued that the rules would strip the navigators of their primary responsibility, as they would not be able to offer sufficient guidance to help people choose health care coverage.

Watson also hinted that the specific training requirements in the proposed rules seem to indicate that the state plans to contract a private company — likely a  that the state already works with — to offer the training program.

“This would put public money that should be going to help people find coverage into a private enterprise’s hands,” he said.

More than one in four Texans does not have health insurance. Of the 6.2 million Texans without health insurance, 28 percent would qualify for tax credits to help them purchase private health plans on the federal marketplace, and 14 percent would qualify for Medicaid coverage, according to the . (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

“Given the strong feelings related to Obamacare, it is difficult — impossible even — to discuss the matter without the interjection of politics,” said state Rep. , D-Austin. “We’re talking about the health and well-being of Texans here, and I don’t want that to get lost in this discussion.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/insurance/texas-democrats-say-navigator-rule-politically-motivated/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

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The number of claims filed for medical and family planning services in the new state-run Texas Women’s Health Program has dropped since the state ousted Planned Parenthood from it and set up its own program without federal financing, according to figures from the Health and Human Services Commission.

Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the commission, wrote in an email that the program is “running at about 77 percent of the number of claims this year compared to last year.” She added that the agency expects to “see a similar trend with the number of women served,” though those numbers are more difficult to calculate.

“We expected to see a drop-off in the number of claims when we moved to the state program because we knew some women wouldn’t want to change doctors,” Goodman said. “We’ve been able to find new doctors for women who call us, and we’ve got the capacity to increase the number of women we’re serving in the state program.”

In 2011, Texas lawmakers demanded that the state enforce a rule prohibiting women’s health care providers affiliated with abortion facilities, such as Planned Parenthood, from participating in the Medicaid Women’s Health Program. At the time, Planned Parenthood clinics — which could not perform abortions at facilities accepting state and federal funding through the program — served 40 percent of women enrolled in it, according to the health commission.

The federal government responded to Texas’ enforcement of the rule by cutting off its $9-to-$1 match for the program — more than $30 million annually — and the state launched the Texas Women’s Health Program without federal financing on Jan. 1. Lawmakers have budgeted $71 million in state funds to pay for the program in the 2014-15 biennium.

While Planned Parenthood continues to provide services with community donations and other revenue, Danielle Wells, a spokeswoman with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said many patients have expressed frustration “that politicians are telling them where they should and should not go for their health care.”

“We’re still hearing from patients who were in the program and were unable to locate a provider or schedule services in a timely manner,” she said. The exclusion of Planned Parenthood requires many women to travel farther to find an available provider, she said, and to make “tough decisions about paying out of pocket for care or simply putting off vital care that could potentially save lives.”

Amanda Stevenson, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a three-year study evaluating the impact of the 2011 women’s health policy changes, said determining whether women still have adequate access to care is complicated. While the health commission is working hard to enroll new providers to replace Planned Parenthood, she said women may delay care because they do not know which providers are available or end up paying out of pocket costs by continuing to seek services at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

“We’re seeing obviously that access is diminishing in places, particularly [those] that rely heavily on Planned Parenthood providers,” she said. But other areas of the state have not been as affected by the policy changes, she added, referencing a created by the researchers that shows how the 2011 policy changes and funding cuts have affected women’s health services regionally.

She also noted that more data is necessary to determine whether the percent reduction in claims represents a persistent trend.

“If things were getting better then we would expect consistent reduction in that proportion, but it’s not happening,” Stevenson said. “There might be a trend, and we might see it, but it’s not enough here to say that it is.”

This <a target="_blank" href="/news/texas-reproductive-services/">article</a&gt; first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="">Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href=" Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150&quot; style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">