Medicaid Expansion Would Cover 2.2 Million Uninsured Texans

We wanted to make sure you saw a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimate that 2.2 million uninsured Texans — grocery store clerks, home health aides, waiters who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and others — could get health insurance by January if Texas leaders accept federal Medicaid expansion funding. (See Table 3 in the KFF report.)

As you know, Texas is one of the few remaining states where these and other uninsured workers below the poverty line typically are not eligible for any affordable insurance options. Medicaid expansion states may be able to focus strictly on more outreach and application assistance to help adults and kids enroll in programs for which they are already eligible. But to significantly reduce the uninsured rate for Texas adults, we need to expand Medicaid so that low-wage workers become eligible for insurance. It's the one policy that will cover the largest segment of uninsured Texans.

The KFF data underscore that Medicaid expansion would take a huge step in reducing the state's worst-in-the-nation uninsured rate and helping more Texans have a healthy pregnancy, catch cancer before it spreads, address mental health challenges, seek help if they have COVID-19 symptoms, and go to the doctor before health problems get harder — and more expensive — to treat.

Medicaid expansion skeptics outside the Legislature have recently advanced a truly bizarre argument against implementing the policy in Texas, arguing that the 2.2 million Texans who would directly benefit represent less than one percent of the population of the entire United States.

It may be the first time that someone has argued against a bill at the Legislature by pointing out that Americans in other states throughout the country would not benefit from it. 

To state the obvious, the Legislature often passes bills that directly benefit "only" dozens, hundreds, or thousands or Texans — and should jump at the chance to directly support a whopping 2.2 million Texans. 

Of course, many more Texans beyond the 2.2 million would benefit indirectly, as Medicaid expansion would pump billions of dollars into the Texas economy, create new health care jobs, reduce pressure on our property taxes and insurance premiums, and more.

For additional information, we encourage you to read our recent Medicaid expansion explainer. 

We look forward to working with legislators and health care supporters next session to ensure more Texans have access to the insurance they need to stay healthy!