Groups Blast Legislature’s Failure to Pass Medicaid Expansion as Session Comes to an End
For Immediate Release
May 26, 2023
Austin - As the Texas Legislature enters the final days of the 2023 session, a number of organizations criticized lawmakers and state leaders for failing to pass Medicaid expansion to cover uninsured low-income men and women. Although several legislators filed Medicaid expansion bills, neither the House nor the Senate even held a hearing on the bills.
“Legislators have hardened their hearts against their own communities,” said Bee Moorhead, Executive Director of Texas Impact. “Our congregations are on the front lines locally, and they bear witness daily to the harm caused by lawmakers’ craven idolizing of Republican primary voters.”
“Latinos comprise 62 percent of the state’s uninsured,” said Juan H. Flores, Coordinator/Policy Analyst at La Fe Policy Research and Education Center. “Failure to expand Medicaid insurance coverage continues to harm their health and economic bienestar — or well-being — and undermines Texas’ economic growth.”
“Texans already send tax dollars to Washington to pay for expansion, and it’s past time for our state leaders to bring $10 billion dollars per year back home,” said Adrienne Lloyd, Health Policy Manager at Children’s Defense Fund-Texas. “This is about the lives and livelihoods of 1.4 million low-wage Texans and the survival of our small businesses, rural hospitals, and communities. Yet, our state leaders continue to do everything they can to avoid having a conversation about all the ways Texas would benefit from Medicaid expansion, perhaps because they’re afraid Texans will see just how negligent they have been.”
“Of the Texas uninsured adults who could be covered with Medicaid expansion, nearly 8 in 10 are workers, in sectors like construction, food services, and home health. Those who aren't working are caring for children and adults with disabilities, or for young children and can’t earn enough to cover child care,” said Anne Dunkelberg, Senior Fellow at Every Texan. “It’s long past time for Texas leaders to show respect for these essential workers and recognize that access to health care will support, not discourage employment.”
"Another legislative session is nearing its end, and yet again our governor and state lawmakers failed to offer a solution to help working people — particularly Black and Latino Texans — in the coverage gap gain access to affordable healthcare,” said Teresa Cox, a Texas Organizing Project (TOP) healthcare justice campaign leader. “For years, these lawmakers have said the Affordable Care Act is government overreach, but the law doesn’t reach far enough here in Texas where more than 1 million people remain uninsured. It’s long past time that our state's top leaders put politics aside and put the health of Texans first."
Texas is one of just 10 states that continues to reject Medicaid expansion. As a result, Texas workers below the poverty line typically are not eligible for health insurance through Medicaid. Under Medicaid expansion, an estimated 1.4 million uninsured low-wage Texans would become eligible for Medicaid health insurance. Texas has the worst uninsured rate in the nation, lagging far behind neighboring states that have implemented Medicaid expansion, including New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. (More information on Medicaid expansion, what it would mean for Texas, and these data points is available here.)
Recent polling shows that 73% of Texans support Medicaid expansion, with only 17% opposed. It also found that 61% of Republican voters in Texas, including 63% of “Strong Republican” voters in Texas, support Medicaid expansion.
While legislative leaders blocked consideration of any Medicaid expansion bills this session, legislators have forced two votes on the issue in recent weeks by proposing Medicaid expansion amendments to other bills on the House floor. An amendment by Rep. Chris Turner was voted down 83-65, and an amendment by Rep. Yvonne Davis was voted down 84-57. The votes were largely along party lines.
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