Posted on 06/30/2012 5:33:56 PM PDT by Lorianne
It's no secret there's a health-care crisis in Texas. The state has the biggest uninsured population in the country with around 6.2 million—or a quarter of all residents—lacking insurance. As a Kaiser Health News report highlighted, poor and uninsured Texans must sometimes wait more than 24 hours in emergency rooms, where treatment is most expensive, while more cost-effective health-care options, like preventative care, are out of reach.
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to change all that. It offered new avenues for health-care coverage to people at all income levels by expanding Medicaid. But yesterday's Supreme Court decision made it optional for states to expand their Medicaid coverage. "There's going to be a donut hole in the middle if a state doesn't proceed," says Edwin Park, vice president for health policy at the D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In Texas, if the state chooses not to expand its services, almost two million people may be stuck in limbo—without access to Medicaid, but too poor for the subsidies.
First, a little background about the Court's decision: A key element of the ACA was expanding Medicaid to provide insurance for those making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line; those who make above that amount can receive subsidies to help pay for their insurance. Prior to the ruling, states had little choice but to expand their programs by January 2014; if they did not, they risked losing all their Medicaid dollars. Now, however, the Court has ruled that states can only lose the extra dollars they would get through expansion, meaning they'll keep the Medicaid dollars they're already getting.
(Excerpt) Read more at prospect.org ...
We The People of Texas ain't too excited about ponying-up more money for the illegals who make up these 2 million uninsured.
This is all so bogus. I live in a Houston suburb. There are countless clinics everywhere where people can get reasonably good treatment without a long wait. My insurance has a high deductible, doesn’t cost a lot and is basically for treatment if hospitalization is needed. These places are just fine for a non-life threatening illness and a lot less expensive than paying for an Obama-type plan that covers everything. But you do have to pay for your treatment at the time.
IMO hospital ER’s should be reserved only for those whose illness/accident/injury warrants immediate hospitalization.
The Illegal Alien population in Texas is the biggest culprit of mushrooming medical cost ... in recent years at ONE County Hospital in Dallas, TX... - Parkland Hospital - at Tax Payer Expense 10,000 Illegal Alien babies are born each year... Multiply that by County Hospitals in Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and dozens of smaller cities and counties and it is EASY to See WHY Medical Cost in Texas is our of control .... and this only includes birthing illegal alien babies - not to mention the thousands of other medical problems...
If TX Doesn’t Expand Medicaid, Two Million Will Be Without Options
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As a proud Texan my gut feeling is SO WHAT! Move to another state that pays better. Get out.
Goes for me too! I worked in health care until last year. My colleagues were some of the most selfless people I've ever met. I've seen docs, nurses, and others assaulted with fists, full urinals, and weapons. I've seen seem them cursed and threatened. Kicked and spat upon. I've seen them miraculously function on no sleep. Give up holidays. Kids birthdays. Baseball games. Work unpaid overtime. Go weeks without a lunch break. And this is just a bit of the sacrifice they make as they go about NOT discriminating between those who pay and those who don't.
So that night Obama got out there with his teleprompter and insulted docs for performing surgeries just to make a buck, I was beyond incensed. He was insulting the very taxpayers who subsidize his AF1 outings and his family vacations, and who display more integrity and selflessness in their pinky fingers than he has shown in his entire presidency.
End of rant :)
” Texas should tell Obama to stick it where the coliforms grow and the parasites whistle all day.”
LOL! That’s the start of a Reader’s Digest article. Please continue...
Texas AG Greg Abbot is one of the best men in Austin. He deserves to be Governor of Texas. But we need him desperately to continue as the Attorney General. Much work in that position needs his attention. He is the best prepared to do the job.
If they don’t like living in TX, they can always go back to Mexico.
Or Californicate, Mass., Conn., NY, etc. They loves illegals there in the blue rich and compassionate states!
That is exactly what happened to my mom who was on Medicare. After 2 years of having breast cancer and knowing it but not seeking treatment she told me. She was living on SS and had nothing but Meducare and thought she couldn’t afford treatment.
I called our local cancer center and talked to the Doctor who owns/runs it’s nurse. Explained the situation and she said she would talk to doctor and call me back. She did and made an appointment with the doctor for the next day.
At the appointment he told Mom they would take whatever Medicare paid. He said......if you receive a bill throw it in the garbage. They treated her for 6 years until she finally passed from a brain tumor. After she died the gal from accounting called me with a final bill, which was huge, for my mom. I told her what the doc had told us and I never heard from them again.
Thank God for doctors who truly care about people.
I am truly sorry you lost you mother. You will see her again.
That's the beauty of a Republic.
Whether the mandate is a tax or something else may be debatable. But there is no doubt that in order to pay for Medicaid expansions there will be taxes. Kalifornia will go for this, imagine how much deeper in debt they will be.
Dreamers and their families are not illegals.
since it is now a tax why are illegals excluded fom the tax? disparate treatment on basis of national origin-civil rights violation, equal protection etc
Texas AG Greg Abbot is one of the best men in Austin. He deserves to be Governor of Texas. But we need him desperately to continue as the Attorney General. Much work in that position needs his attention. He is the best prepared to do the job.
Amen to that! Greg Abbot is awesome!!
Thanks. She has been gone 3 years now and I still miss her everyday.
May I echo that Amen!
Mothers and fathers are quiet, unassumming heros. The give without regret or requirement. Only love came from my parents. I lost my parents 11 years ago, 3 days apart, and they seem to constantly in my consciousness. I sure you feel the same about your mom. My thoughts are not with regrets. If there ever was a contention it seems those memories are taken away. Now only love and fond memories.
that crossed my mind as I wrote it. We will end up paying for their healthcare, phone, and before too long, 200 cable channels will be considered a right too.
I heard that Chuck Norris wears Abbot pajamas when he goest to bed. Is it true?
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