For the third time, Texas state Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Democrat from Dallas, is trying to get a Medicaid expansion bill through the Legislature.
Senate Bill 232 would create Live Well Texas, a state-specific approach to extending Medicaid coverage to over 1 million Texans.
But unless Republican sentiment toward the federal program changes, Johnson said, his chances are, in a word, “grim.”
Most Republican lawmakers have repeatedly rejected efforts to expand Medicaid in Texas – and it’s likely they will again this year without a push from leadership.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick listed addressing barriers to health insurance among his priorities during the state legislative session. However, in a 2022 speech to the conservative think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation, he said the Affordable Care Act harmed the U.S. health care system.
“We are one of the states that did not go along with that Medicaid expansion and thank goodness, because I wouldn’t say we’d be bankrupt now but a lot of the states that did are in deep fiscal trouble,” Patrick said.
Source: Will 2025 be the year Texas expands Medicaid? Not likely, advocates say / Kera News