By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-938442.mp3
Dallas, TX – A report released Friday by the state says up to 2.6 million Texans would lose health coverage if the state dropped out of the Medicaid program. Texas would also forfeit some $15 billion in federal matching money. KERA's Shelley Kofler says the report comes in the midst of increased talk that Texas should opt out of Medicaid.
Medicaid accounts for more than a quarter of the state budget and the price tag continues to grow. In the past 11 years Medicaid costs have risen 170 percent in Texas.
The numbers are part of the reason Governor Rick Perry recently said Texas should consider dropping out of Medicaid and come up with its own alternative healthcare plan.
Perry: Opting out of Medicaid is I think a pretty good idea but we need to look at all the options.
But a shift wouldn't be easy. Medicaid provides health coverage for more than three million low income Texans. Most of them are children. It also covers pregnant women and two-thirds of Texans in nursing homes.
The report says that since the federal government provides $6 of funding for every $4 dollars Texas spends simply dropping out is not a good option because the state would lose $15 billion in federal aid each year.
Stephanie Goodman is with the state's health and human services department which compiled the Medicaid report.
Goodman: I think there's a pretty wide agreement we need those federal dollars and we should get them. They came from our taxpayers. We don't want to send money from Washington that never comes back to the state. What we do feel like is that states need more flexibility to reinvent Medicaid.
Instead of simply opting out, the state report suggests the federal government update its Medicaid funding formula to award more money to states like Texas with a large number of indigent people.
The report also says Washington should consider giving Texas its share of Medicaid money in the form of a grant and let the state design it's own program.
And the report recommends the federal government pay for 100% of Medicaid costs for undocumented immigrants. While undocumented immigrants cannot enroll in Medicaid, Goodman says Medicaid pays their bills if they receive care in an emergency room.
Goodman: I think more than half of those services are for pregnant women to pay for the cost of delivery.
Goodman says Medicaid will be a big dilemma for state lawmakers meeting in January. The state budget deficit for the next two years may be as much as $25 billion, and Medicaid costs in Texas will go up another $8 billion during that time. She says federal reform is needed but it's unlikely to happen quickly enough.
Report on consequences of eliminating Medicaid in Texas: http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/HB-497_122010.pdf