Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
By The Numbers: The Role Of Medicaid Expansion In Reducing The Nation's Uninsured Rate
The number of Americans without health insurance declined to 9.1 percent last year, according to federal data released聽Tuesday.聽A set of maps聽released by the Census Bureau聽suggests an obvious way to decrease聽the uninsured rate even more: expand Medicaid in the 19 states that haven't. (Johnson, 9/13)
But in Texas, lawmakers appear to have little interest in pursuing the expansion -
The chairman of the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee and other high-ranking Republicans on Tuesday expressed little interest in expanding publicly funded insurance coverage to low-income Texans, suggesting the issue is unlikely to gain traction when the state Legislature convenes in January. State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, the committee鈥檚 chairman, said at a public hearing that expanding Medicaid coverage would do little to help the finances of hospitals that treat uninsured patients. He also criticized expansion supporters for the 鈥渇alse tactic or verbiage that鈥檚 utilized frequently that expanding Medicaid鈥檚 going to solve everything.鈥 (Walters, 9/13)
