AUSTIN, Texas — More than half a million Texans have lost their Medicaid coverage in the previous four months, and the Texas Congressional Democratic Delegation claims that 81% of those individuals were wrongfully terminated. They want the federal government to look into the state’s alleged missteps and hold it accountable for them. After writing a three-page letter to the executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, whistleblowers set off this chain of events.
The letter detailed the denial of care experienced by thousands of pregnant mothers, cancer sufferers, and elderly people. The leakers have also said they are suffering personally because of the circumstance and are “desperately seeking help that will address these issues.” Responsibility for the impoverished is a topic that never seems to go away. U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett said, “We’re asking for accountability from the state of Texas.”
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Austin, claims that the federal government allocated more money to Texas as part of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In exchange, states were urged to keep residents enrolled in Medicaid during crisis periods. The state has started disenrolling people from Medicaid now that the emergency situation has resolved. In the past several weeks, it has come to light that about 100,000 of those persons were terminated incorrectly,” stated Doggett.
This began when the state initiated a process to re-evaluate its citizens’ eligibility. Doggett says the repercussions are bad for Texans’ health and wallets. On Tuesday, he and fellow Democrats sent a letter to the state demanding a halt to Medicaid redeterminations until the system is fixed. We asked Governor Greg Abbott’s office for their thoughts. We were told to visit the HHSC. In a statement, the organization claims:
HHSC has been planning this unwinding operation for over a year, and it will include re-determining Medicaid eligibility for around 6 million Texans over the course of 12 months. To ensure that the redetermination process runs as smoothly as possible, we are collaborating closely with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and our other partners. We have found and are fixing technical issues thanks to our quality assurance procedures. We have reinstated coverage for people whose Medicaid applications were wrongfully denied.
Our End of Continuous Medicaid data page has the most recent statistics available. We contacted HHSC again to see if they had any comment on the whistleblower allegations. We were informed, “Our response below stands,” in a separate email. Thanks.” It’s shameful that Governor Abbott’s office hasn’t responded to state workers’ concerns about protecting Texans’ healthcare access. There needs to be a direct response to these brave whistleblowers and swift, effective action to remedy the failures that they have brought to light, on behalf of the countless patients for whom they are advocating.
Doggett warned that the stakes were too high for political evasion and apathy. Doggett thinks this problem is making black women’s health problems in the state, like baby and maternal morbidity, worse. He also said that further redetermination notices will be sent out on September 9th, so getting this sorted up quickly is crucial. Some people will perish because they lack adequate insurance. Doggett said that the federal government needed to intervene to force the state to take responsibility for its shortcomings.
