Texas Legislature Starts to Prepare for Health Reform
Implementation of national health reform will require a significant amount of work at the state level. The Texas Legislature will have to modify many state laws and pass several new ones, fix the state’s broken Medicaid eligibility system, and develop new revenue sources for funding needs related to national health reform. Implementation will be a multi-year process. To get the job done right, work on it should begin now.
This week the Texas Legislature took its first steps to help Texas prepare for implementation with the naming of House and Senate committees to monitor national health reform.
Speaker Straus named a 15-member House Select Committee on Federal Legislation. The committee’s work will include, “monitoring Congress’s health care reform efforts and their potential impact on the state’s health care system, health insurance regulation statutes and policies, Medicaid and children’s health insurance programs, eligibility system, workforce recruitment and retention, and health care financing mechanisms.” Rep. John Zerwas will serve as chair and Rep. Garnet Coleman as co-chair. Speaker Straus’ press release lists the full committee membership.
Senate interim charges released this week by Lt. Governor Dewhurst included the following joint charge on health reform to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Upon passage of federal legislation relating to reform of the health care industry and health insurance industry, study the implication of such legislation on Texas, the health care industry, and public and private insurance. Study and monitor the implementation of the insurance regulatory changes, changes to the high risk pool, and any other insurance mandates. Study the health care policy changes and the impact to the Medicaid and CHIP programs and the state budget. Assess the impact to all state uninsured and uncompensated care programs and county programs for the uninsured, including county property tax programs to pay for the uninsured. Make recommendations for the efficient implementation of programs.
