Concerns Raised About Texas Health Coverage Program Draft Proposal
The program would offer coverage first to about 482,000 uninsured parents of children enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP. Residents with annual incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level would be eligible for the coverage. State officials said they expect 200,000 parents to enroll in the program within the first year.
Texas HHS Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins said the program would help ease the reliance on emergency departments and shift the focus to preventive care. However, health experts who reviewed a draft of the proposal questioned whether the proposed benefits were adequate and whether people would enroll in the program. In addition, Ed Berger, vice president of the Seton Family of Hospitals, said the program will not expand coverage to enough residents and its impact on EDs is unclear. State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D) said the program's premiums are too high and the coverage levels are too low, adding, "Why Texas would embark on a program to create more underinsured individuals befuddles me."
Maureen Milligan, deputy chief of staff of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said the proposal intentionally provides a low level of benefits to discourage people from dropping employer-sponsored coverage to enroll in the state-sponsored plan (Austin American-Statesman, 2/9).
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Despre Texas a problemelor ridicate de sãnãtate proiectul de program de acoperire a propunerii - Concerns Raised About Texas Health Coverage Program Draft Proposal - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate