The fate of Cook Children’s Health Plan, which serves more than 125,000 families in the Tarrant County area, has been pushed back and will not be decided until next summer.
Officials with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission have agreed to delay signing new Medicaid contracts until June 2025, giving state lawmakers the opportunity to weigh in on the proposal during their next legislative session beginning in January.
The $116 billion Medicaid contract proposal would drop the Cook Children’s Health Plan, alongside the Driscoll Health Plan in South Texas and the Texas Children’s Health Plan in the Houston area, from Medicaid STAR and CHIP plans starting in September 2025.
The proposal would force low-income Tarrant-area residents to change their children’s health coverage to other organizations, including Aetna Better Health of Texas, Molina Healthcare of Texas, UnitedHealthcare, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.