Stage Two: Medicaid Enrollment on the Rise

On February 1, 2012, The Texas Tribune published an article titled Interactive: Enrollment in Texas' Health Care Programs Increasing.

Medicaid is a health care program that covers over three and a half million uninsured Texans on a limited income who are otherwise left without a safety net to receive proper medical care.

Health and Human Services Commission, which operates the program, is asking the legislature for billions more to cover its costs in the 2012-2013 legislative session. The agency has made budget cuts in services, expanded its managed care plans, analyzed and implemented ways to slash unnecessary expenditures after being mandated by lawmakers in the last session. However, lawmakers did not accurately project a substantial increased enrollment which is one reason why HHSC is now asking for these billions of dollars to cover its costs.

While the federal government pays the greater proportion of costs to HHSC, Medicaid accounts for approximately one-third of the state’s budget. With such a large share of its budget going toward Medicaid, this program is both a federal and state problem which must implement strategic measures to survive and help its needy clientele while not draining the Texas budget and overtaxing its citizens.