Texas Medicare Expansion Ain't Happenin'

On June 28, 2012, the Texas Tribune published an article titled With Health Reform Constitutional, What Happens in TX? describing upcoming healthcare choices that will significantly impact Texas' low-income individuals.

Now that Obamacare has been stamped ‘CONSTITUTIONAL’, Texas has some major healthcare decisions to make. One of these decisions is whether to expand Medicaid, the medical services program for low income families. Fortunately for Republicans, the Supreme Court is allowing states to temporarily turn down expansion. States’ Rights 1 : Federal Government…well, 1 also. While Texas would be forfeiting billions of dollars in federal funding by rejecting the expansion, many Lone Star leaders feel uneasy about enrolling more poor adults into a program that takes up a fourth of the state budget and is already billions of dollars short. It’s also about the principle, GOP consultants admit. Most likely the expansion will take place in a few years, after some negotiation with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. However, as much as Texas stalls with this portion of the healthcare bill, millions of dollars are already rolling in to fund other Texas-based health care projects. 

Graphic Courtesy of ThinkProgress