Feds Give Texas More Time to Prepare for End of Pandemic Public Health Emergency
October 13, 2022
For Immediate Release
Contact: Peter Clark, [email protected]
Feds Give Texas More Time to Prepare for End of Pandemic Public Health Emergency
Advocates Urge Texas Leaders to Avoid Knocking Eligible Kids off Health Coverage
Austin - Today the Biden administration extended the official pandemic Public Health Emergency (PHE) until January 11, 2023, giving Texas and other states additional time to prepare for the wave of Medicaid renewals that will occur when the PHE ends.
During the PHE, children and moms have been able to remain enrolled in Medicaid health insurance without renewing their applications. Texas has received $5.9 billion to cover the costs. The PHE would have ended this week if the federal government hadn’t extended it.
“The extension is fantastic news for Texas kids and families,” said Diana Forester, Director of Health Policy for Texans Care for Children. “Letting kids and moms keep their health coverage — and pumping billions of federal health care dollars into the state — is helping Texans get medications, detect cancer early, go to check-ups, and much more.”
A recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that the uninsured rate has improved in Texas and across the country during the time the PHE policies have been in place. The report also showed Texas had the worst uninsured rate in the nation for both children and adults.
Texas health care groups have expressed concern that the state’s plan for the end of the PHE will lead to eligible children losing their health coverage. While most states plan to take up to a year to process Medicaid renewals after the PHE, the Texas plan aims to process 2.7 million Medicaid renewals in just six months.
The plan comes at a time when Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) staff shortages are already creating significant delays in processing applications and renewals, even with steps to reduce the workload. HHSC data show it is currently only processing about half of all Medicaid applications within the 45-day window for meeting federal guidelines for timeliness. Underscoring those challenges, on October 3rd, HHSC Deputy Executive Commissioner Wayne Salter testified to the House Select Committee on Health Care Reform that there are approximately 400 vacancies in the state workforce for processing applications and renewals for Medicaid, SNAP nutrition assistance, and other public benefits, with a backlog of approximately 70,000 applications.
“If the state can’t manage the volume of applications and renewals coming in today, they’re going to be overwhelmed with the flood coming in after the Public Health Emergency ends,” said Stacey Pogue, Senior Policy Analyst at Every Texan. “If state leaders want to avoid chaos and ensure eligible kids aren’t kicked off their health insurance, they need to deal with the current delays in the system and plan for a more methodical, orderly process when the PHE ends.”
“Ultimately, the Governor will be responsible, whether Texas manages the end of the PHE responsibly and efficiently or Texas handles it in a way that yanks health insurance away from thousands of eligible kids,” said Patrick Bresette, Executive Director of Children’s Defense Fund - Texas. “The federal government is giving us a little more time to prepare, but this could be state leaders’ last chance to put a plan in place that supports healthy kids.”
The groups noted that any gap in coverage, even if it is short, is problematic because uninsured kids are more likely to miss important primary and preventative care visits and their families become exposed to large medical bills if the child becomes sick or gets hurt.
Advocates expressed their appreciation for the steps that HHSC staff are taking to prepare for the end of the PHE and urged state leaders to be ready to closely monitor the fall out from the state’s plan.
“Part of the state’s strategy has to be a plan for collecting real-time data about eligible kids losing health insurance and quickly adjusting state policy based on that data,” said Ms. Forester of Texans Care for Children.
Additionally, advocates also urged Texans who are currently enrolled in Medicaid to act now, before the PHE ends, and update their information with HHSC to ensure they receive all communication in order to renew benefits.
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