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Texas legislators have agreed on a plan to offer new mothers a complete 12 months of Medicaid protection, however the compromise comes with a debatable anti-abortion amendment that would doubtlessly imperil the extension. The invoice now is going to each chambers for a last vote.
Texas is one in all simply 11 states that has now not expanded Medicaid and has the best uninsured fee in the country. Medicaid pays for 50% of births in Texas, however recently, new mothers lose their Medicaid protection simply two months after giving beginning.
Maternal well being advocates had been calling for a complete 12 months of postpartum Medicaid for years, and it’s lengthy been the top recommendation from the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. Texas’ maternal mortality charges, particularly amongst Black ladies and uninsured sufferers, has been on the rise during the last decade.
This consultation, in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the invoice to amplify postpartum Medicaid stuck bipartisan fortify from a wide-ranging coalition of legislators and advocates, and it first of all handed the House with overwhelming backing.
But the invoice hit a snag in the Senate as Republicans demanded an amendment that specified ladies who had non-compulsory abortions don’t qualify for the prolonged Medicaid protection. The unique invoice mentioned merely that the protection started at the closing day of being pregnant; it didn’t specify how that being pregnant needed to finish.
Abortion is banned in Texas apart from to avoid wasting the lifetime of the pregnant affected person. Anti-abortion groups have said that permitting prolonged Medicaid protection to visit ladies who had out-of-state or illicit abortions is tantamount to the use of state budget to fortify abortion.
Throughout the consultation, advocates referred to as for the Legislature to go a “clean” invoice that fits the language in Medicaid tips to verify the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services temporarily accepts the state’s software for the extension.
Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, mentioned at the ground Sunday that Republican senators’ amendment left “the entire program…vulnerable to not being approved.”
“I don’t want to gamble with women’s lives…so I wish you’d take these words out,” Johnson mentioned.
Bill sponsor Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, mentioned this was once a essential compromise to get the invoice to go the Senate.
“My goal is to get this bill over the goal line and allay some of the … concerns of members on this floor,” she mentioned. “I think that this is a compromise that is best.”
In a closed-door convention committee this week, House individuals agreed to just accept the invoice with the Senate’s amendment, consistent with a duplicate of the file reviewed Friday via The Texas Tribune. If each chambers settle for the invoice and it passes into legislation, it’ll be as much as the government to come to a decision whether or not to approve Texas’ extension proposal.
State lawmakers have till Sunday at 11:59 p.m. to go the invoice out of each chambers.
This invoice comes at a the most important second, as tens of millions of Texans face the top of Medicaid advantages for the primary time because the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. Texans who obtain Medicaid advantages are inspired to verify their information is up-to-the-minute at YourTexasBenefits.com.
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Texas lawmakers have reached a compromise to supply new mothers with a 12 months of Medicaid protection, which is recently simplest to be had for 2 months after giving beginning. However, the compromise features a debatable anti-abortion amendment that would jeopardize the Medicaid extension. Texas is one in all 11 states that has now not expanded Medicaid and has the best uninsured fee in the rustic. This protection extension has been a best advice from the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, and maternal well being advocates had been lobbying for this modification for years.
This invoice has garnered bipartisan fortify from legislators and well being advocates in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The invoice handed the House with nice fortify, however because it arrived in the Senate, Republican senators
