Priority: Advance coverage for under- and uninsured Texans, while helping physicians expand their ability to care for Medicaid patients with healthier payment rates.
Background: Cynthia Peacock, MD, has experienced firsthand the short shrift of Medicaid payments and the implications of their inadequacy on access to care.
“I take care of people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities,” complex needs that take more time to care for, the chair of Texas Medical Association’s Committee on Medicaid, CHIP, and the Uninsured said. “For primary care, and even subspecialty care, in order for my population to be seen, we need to enhance reimbursement.”
Despite piecemeal progress in achieving enhanced payments and coverage for women and children, Medicaid expansion remains a nonstarter in Texas. But the perennial inertia on that front – due in part to the program’s status as one of the state budget’s largest line items – is arguably less pressing than the practical, immediate concern of insufficient payment rates.
Source: TMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Enhance Medicaid Payments and Coverage / Texas Medical Association