{"id":1816,"date":"2014-04-07T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ssn\/?p=1816"},"modified":"2014-03-31T11:45:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T16:45:59","slug":"medicaid-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ssn\/2014\/04\/07\/medicaid-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"How Community Health Centers and Millions of Uninsured Are Hurt by the Refusal to Expand Medicaid in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of Texas leads the nation in the percentage of residents lacking health insurance. In 2012, nearly a quarter of the state\u2019s population went without health coverage, some 6.4 million people. Texas alone is home to 13% of all uninsured Americans, with poor and low-income people the most affected. More than ninety percent of well-off Texans have health insurance. But the ranks of the uninsured include more than two out of five impoverished Texans—as well as more than a quarter of individuals earning modest incomes in 2014 between $11,670 and $46,680 (or between $19,970 and $79,880 for a family of three).<\/p>\n

If the Affordable Care Act were fully implemented in Texas, most residents earning less than $16,105 in 2014 could potentially gain coverage through an expanded Medicaid program. For the first year, the federal government would pay the full cost of this expansion; from 2016 through 2019 the federal share would decline slightly, and remain at 90% thereafter. It\u2019s a great deal for the state, but Governor Rick Perry and Republican majorities in the legislature refuse to accept the new federal Medicaid money. As a result, millions of the neediest Texans cannot gain health insurance, hospitals are losing money, and community health centers face new burdens.<\/p>\n

Health Struggles for Low-Income Texans<\/h3>\n

Research has established that health insurance helps people to get access to regular care. Those without coverage often forgo or delay checkups and tests and thus face a higher risk of serious health problems and premature death. Not surprisingly, huge gaps in insurance coverage in Texas go hand in hand with low ratings for the state on a series of measures of health problems that could be addressed with better access to care.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Indicator from the Kaiser Family Foundation\u2019s <\/b><\/p>\n

State Health Facts<\/b><\/td>\n

Texas<\/b><\/td>\nU.S.<\/b><\/td>\nRank among 50 states & DC<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Teen Birth Rate per 1,000 age 15-19 (2010)<\/td>\n52.2<\/td>\n34.2<\/td>\n4th<\/sup> highest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Percent of Children Age 10-17 that are Overweight\/Obese (2007)<\/td>\n36.6%<\/td>\n31.3%<\/td>\n5th<\/sup> highest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Percent of Children Age 0-17 with No Medical Home (2007)<\/td>\n49.7%<\/td>\n42.5%<\/td>\n6th<\/sup> highest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Women Age 18+ who Had a Pap Smear in the Past 3 Years (2012)<\/td>\n74.6%<\/td>\n77.6%<\/td>\n8th<\/sup> lowest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cervical Cancer Incidence Rate per 100,000 Women (2009)<\/td>\n9.4<\/td>\n7.9<\/td>\n8th<\/sup> highest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Percentage of Adults Reporting Not Seeing a Doctor in the Past 12 Months Because of Cost (2012)<\/td>\n20.9%<\/td>\n16.5%<\/td>\n3rd<\/sup> highest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>Current Medicaid coverage in Texas is restricted to very low income people. No matter how poor they happen to be, adults are not eligible unless they have disabilities, are pregnant women, or are parents of dependent children. Although many needy pregnant women, infants, and children in the state are helped by Medicaid, the state\u2019s Medicaid income eligibility standard for adults with dependent children is the second lowest in the entire United States. The national health reform law aims to include all poor and near-poor adults and children in Medicaid—and in Texas that would go a long way toward filling gaps in health insurance. A recent study by Harvard University\u2019s Sam Dickman and other researchers found that, if Texas had agreed to expand Medicaid, more than two million uninsured people would likely have gained health insurance. The study estimates improvements in health and well-being new coverage would have brought:Inclusion in Texas would go a long way toward filling gaps in health insurance.<\/span><\/p>\n