Texas Considers Medicaid Withdrawal

[DearAbby]

Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.

Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in impassioned news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it is being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.

“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility” to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. “This system is bankrupting our state,” he said. “We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we’re anticipating, we may have to act this year.”

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, estimates Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, dropping coverage for acute care but continuing to finance long-term care services. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which has 3.6 million children, people with disabilities and impoverished Texans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, will release its own study on the effect of ending the state’s participation in the federal match program at some point between now and January.

More :
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/politics/07ttmedicaid.html?_r=3&hp

[SoCalDem]

1. T. T. H. H. S. C., becomes PFFFFT..N/T

[cynatnite]

2. You take your life into your hands if you live in Texas and this happens...

The govt. matches dollar for dollar. Not only that, the govt. pays 60% of the bill.

Stupid people. :grr:

[DearAbby]

5. Republican Health Care Plan = Don't Get Sick

If you do get sick - DIE QUICKLY, and not in public

[cynatnite]

6. Exactly. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

3. seriously, "Opt out of Medicaid" - Texans HAVE to take to the capitol for a march if they vote on it

this is the essence of outright "who gives a rats ass about the suffering!" if there is one! screw the kids, the disabled, and needy!

[BzaDem]

4. It'll never happen. It's just bluster. n/t

[Trajan]

7. This only transfers the problem ...

from a 'taxation' issue to a 'pubic health' issue ....

People who have little wealth still get sick .. They still catch communicable disease ... They still get in accidents ....

There is no free lunch .... Somebody will pay ....

[madmax]

8. Why don't they just secede?

Watch how many change from R to D without Fed $.

[RKP5637]

9. Hmmmm... Texas style Death Panels! n/t

[denem]

10. Lone Stare State = Loan Star State.

Just refuse all Federal money, period.

[1776Forever]

11. I heard Canada was getting a lot of applications for citizenship - this will make it more!

Good way to cut down on your population either way and that is the Repub's way of handling things. Oh, and remember, God told them to do it - NOT - Sad!

[Sirveri]

12. I hope they do it. Please do it TX, PLEASE.

That has got to be one of the best way to turn the entire state blue.

[jillan]

14. At the expense of the health of the poor and disabled? I know you were only joking.

[jillan]

13. Jan Brewer has already done that - been there. She canceled CHIP last year and cut medical care

medicaid recipients. But - boy can she go after illegals.

It's personal. I have a disabled daughter whose medical benefits were cut.

If they want to save money then why don't they just cut their pay??????

[smoochpooch]

23. that is surprising, Matt Blunt kicked 85,000 Missourians off Medicaid when he took office in 2005

And his poll numbers literally never recovered. He ended up being a one-and-done governor.

[Karmadillo]

15. Soylent Green is people!

nt

[snot]

16. Texas rates prior to such cuts

Life expectancy: 35th out of the 50 states (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy )

Infant mortality: 29th (http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank17.html )

Why not step on it in that race to the bottom.

[Horse with no Name]

17. Kill off the poor folks--make no mistake, there are MANY who

would sign up for that in this state.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-poverty_17tex.ART.State.Edition2.35a74a4.html
>>>snip
The government announced Thursday that nearly 4.3 million Texans lived in poverty last year, a whopping 11 percent increase.
>>>snip
Texas posted stark numbers. Its child poverty rate last year was 25.6 percent, up from 23.1 percent a year earlier and high enough to edge out Louisiana for seventh-highest among the states. Under the federal definition of poverty, a family of four last year could make no more than $22,050.

The number of Texans not in poverty but living below twice the poverty level, or $44,100 for a family of four, decreased to 5.3 million people, from 5.5 million in 2008, the study showed. Nationally, the number of people in working-poor households increased slightly.

[OHdem10]

20. Texas is one of the most Pro-Business States in the US

Conservative Economic Fundamentalism on the Rampage.

[riderinthestorm]

18. . K & R with a small sob. nt

[CAG]

19. Hmmm...sounds like rationing and death panel by proxy to me

[JDPriestly]

21. The intention is to motivate anyone who is poor or disabled to leave Texas and

move to another state. Here we go again, another race to the bottom. Here we go with the first economic refugees in the country. States with hearts, states that cannot let the poor suffer, will receive the refugees from Texas, the sick, the poor, the hungry.

Things are going to get tougher in California too even though we have a Democratic governor and legislature.

It will take tremendous creativity to keep the nation going through this.

Obviously, we have to cut back on the amount of foreign oil that we buy.

We just generally have to do with less energy because, as a nation, we simply spend too much of our money on it. That is really hard in the colder regions of the U.S. In warm areas, though, we could live comfortably with less heat in the winter and less air conditioning in the summer. It is really tough on heat in the very cold areas or on air conditioning in areas that are both hot an humid.

I don't know of any other change we can make, as a nation, to save enough in what we spend to make any difference outside of defense. Of course, cutting the amount of money we spend on foreign bases (over 740 according to Chalmers Johnson) would be the best way to save money to use for our domestic needs. I'd like to see us cut the number of our foreign bases by a third. We would still have plenty of bases.

Cutting so-called "entitlements" will just cut domestic consumer demand more, run more businesses into bankruptcy and therefore harm our domestic economy even more.

Why can't the conservatives understand how this works? It seems so obvious if you just visualize our economy.

[Arkana]

22. Congratulations--they will never get the vote of anyone over 60 in Texas

ever again.

[kelly1mm]

26. The proposal is about Medicaid not Medicare. 2 different programs. nt

[Stevenmarc]

24. They built those fences on the wrong border

[RagAss]

25. Good...that should wake them up !!!!