TX Health Groups Cheer US House Passing “Build Back Better” Budget Package
For Immediate Release
Contact: Cindy Ji, 973-229-8429, [email protected]
AUSTIN - Today, after the US House of Representatives passed the “Build Back Better” budget reconciliation, Texas organizations celebrated the step forward on several major health care challenges and called on the US Senate to maintain all the provisions in the bill and swiftly pass it. Texas currently has the worst uninsured rate in the nation for children and adults according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“This bill will save lives,” said Laura Guerra-Cardus, Deputy Director of Children’s Defense Fund-Texas. “We’re delighted to see Congress move forward with this transformational legislation. In addition to finally delivering a health coverage option to low-income uninsured adults in Texas, the bill’s health provisions represent the greatest improvement for children’s health in 20 years, when CHIP was first created. We need Congress to get this across the finish line, and we stand eager to enroll Texans who have waited for nearly a decade in affordable health coverage.”
The legislation, which passed on a vote of 220 to 213, takes several major steps on health care, including:
Closing the Medicaid health coverage gap through 2025 by providing a health coverage option to uninsured adults in Texas and the 11 other states that rejected Medicaid expansion. Specifically, for the next four years, the bill allows Texans below the poverty line to sign up for insurance on HealthCare.Gov for $0 per month.
Allowing children to remain enrolled in their Medicaid or CHIP health insurance for 12 continuous months.
Allowing moms to keep their Medicaid health insurance for a full 12 months after childbirth.
Continuing the extra financial assistance that Congress recently provided that has slashed the price of insurance on HealthCare.Gov.
“We won't pop the champagne until the Senate passes the bill and the President signs it, but today we took another big step towards helping kids and families get the health care they need,” said Adriana Kohler, Policy Director at Texans Care for Children. “We’re thrilled to see that Congress is on the verge of allowing moms to keep their health care for a full year after childbirth, a policy strongly endorsed by the Texas Maternal Mortality Review Committee and a number of senior Republicans and Democrats in the Texas Legislature. We’re also thrilled about the children’s health care provisions in the bill. Once the legislation is implemented, kids will no longer be at risk of losing their Medicaid insurance and missing their doctor’s appointments just because a parent picks up a couple extra shifts at work one month and momentarily enters a new income bracket.”
“Young people of color, in particular, face a disproportionately challenging economic landscape with barriers to accessing health care, higher student debt, and higher job losses during the pandemic,” said Aurora Harris, Southern Region Director for Young Invincibles. “The failure of Texas leaders to expand Medicaid has directly impacted young people across the state who seek affordable health care in the midst of a global pandemic. Failure to address the issues of the moment will cost us multiple times over as young people age and become the foundation of our economy. We are thrilled that the House took action and passed the Build Back Better Act, taking a critical step towards giving young Texans a path to health coverage.”
“Making low-cost health coverage available to Texas’ working poor adults will be a huge boost to their ability to climb the economic ladder,” said Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director of Every Texan, formerly known as the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “Health care costs of the lowest-wage essential workers—especially parents struggling to replace child care—have wiped out pandemic relief for too many until now.”
“Governor Abbott and state officials for the past decade have blocked Medicaid expansion in our state, denying more than a million working-class Texans -- the majority being Black and Latino -- from accessing the quality health care they deserve. Working with coalition partners, TOP for years has been a vocal proponent for health care justice in our state, with Medicaid expansion being at the forefront of our organizing fight," said Brianna Brown, Co-Executive Director of Texas Organizing Project. "This pandemic has shown us as clear as ever how access to health care is a matter of life or death for so many in communities of color, and how expanding Medicaid is one essential way to get closer to fixing the rampant inequities that exist in our nation's health care system. We’re thankful to those in Congress who stepped up and were critical in helping close the coverage gap through this legislation. We must now build off this win by working to get it passed expeditiously in the Senate.”
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