| Rachel Beck: Texas fights new accounting rules to disclose future ...
The implosion of Enron Corp. rocked the state of Texas more than anywhere else, but some lawmakers in its home state still don't seem to get the lessons learned from that mess: The crucial need for financial transparency. Proposed legislation there seeks to block new national accounting rules that require state and local governments to disclose for the first time the projected costs of future retiree health care and other benefits. It's a potentially super-sized obligation that the public deserves to know. But in Texas and potentially elsewhere, they might not get it if some politicians have their way. In addition to traditional monthly pension payments, governments across the nation have long promised their workers what are known as other post-employment benefits (OPEB), covering at least part of the cost of retirees' medical, dental, disability and life insurance.
House Debates CHIP Reform
(April 3, 2007)--More Texas children of the working poor would have access to the state's low-cost health insurance program under a measure the House debated Tuesday. The proposal would dismantle several changes that the Legislature made in 2003, when the state faced a $10 billion budget shortfall and cut spending on state services like the Children's Health Insurance Program. The proposal by Rep. Sylvester Turner, R-Houston, would let parents re-enroll in the CHIP plan every year instead of every six months. The proposal also would eliminate a 90-day waiting period unless the child had recently been covered in another insurance plan. Conservatives have voiced concern with the 12-month enrollment period in Turner's bill. They say making families re-enroll twice a year ensures only eligible children receive the benefits.
Lawmakers push for children's health
A pair of East Texas lawmakers joined the fight this week to partially restore the Children's Health Insurance Program to Texas children. A round of budget cuts and other changes in 2003 axed an estimated 250,000 childen from CHIP. Both state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, and Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, voted in favor of House Bill 109. The bill was approved on final reading Wednesday, according to Hughes. The bill is expected to head to the Senate for consideration where state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, said it will have his support. He was not sure of the bill's chances of passing in the Senate. "I fully support the House bill and will support it in the Senate where I will work to get it passed," Eltife said late Wednesday afternoon. Merritt said if the bill becomes law, it will mean more children of Texas' working poor would have access to the state's low-cost health insurance program.
Texas Physicians and Hospitals Join State Legislators to Ensure ...
AUSTIN, Texas, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 400 Texas physicians, medical students, and hospital leaders rallied state legislators today to pass legislation that would provide health insurance to thousands of Texas children. Physician and hospital leaders from across the state joined state Reps. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston); House Bill 109 author, John Davis (R-Houston); Elliott Naishtat (D-Austin); and Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) to encourage their colleagues to pass HB 109. The bill would restore 12 months of continuous coverage for kids in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), establish a more realistic asset test for working families, and remove the 90-day waiting period for uninsured children. Health care leaders believe restoring the cuts made to CHIP in 2003 is a critical and important first step in reducing the number of uninsured children.
House OKs end to limits on CHIP
AUSTIN -- Thousands more El Paso children could get health insurance under a bill the Texas House tentatively approved Tuesday. "Texas is the state that has the highest percentage of uninsured kids in the country," said state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, author of the bill. "This is a step today that could reverse that." The bill, which passed 126-16, would reduce restrictions on Children's Health Insurance Program enrollment and allow more than 100,000 additional Texas children in the program, according to a legislative analysis. It would undo some changes legislators -- trying to save money because of a nearly $10 billion shortfall -- made to CHIP in 2003. "It doesn't reinstate all the children, but a good portion," said state Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso, a bill sponsor.
House approves measure intended to insure more children
More children of the working poor in Texas would have access to the state's low-cost health insurance program under a measure tentatively approved in the House on Tuesday. The proposal would dismantle several changes that the Legislature made in 2003, when the state faced a $10 billion budget shortfall and cut spending on state services like the Children's Health Insurance Program. The House approved the measure by a 126-16 vote. The proposal is expected to get final approval in the House Wednesday. It next moves to the Senate, where observers believe it will have a tougher time emerging intact. The proposal by Rep. Sylvester Turner, R-Houston, would let parents re-enroll in the program every year instead of every six months. The measure also would eliminate the 90-day waiting period unless the child had recently been covered in another insurance plan.
Source: Access Plans USA, Inc.
IRVING, Texas, April 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Access Plans USA, Inc. (Nasdaq:AUSA) (formerly Precis, Inc. (Nasdaq:PCIS)), a nationwide distributor of health insurance and non-insurance health care programs that provide access to affordable health care for the growing number of uninsured and/or underinsured in the United States, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2006. .
Texas health care gets welcome House call
This week's vote on the state's Children's Health Insurance Program demonstrated a refreshing bipartisanship among members of the Texas House, who came together to pass reasonable measures to improve the health care of Texas children. Now it's up to the Senate to finish the job of expanding health coverage for lower-income children. .
Men's Health Ranks Lubbock Among Better Drivers
Some of the safest drivers in the state may be right here in Lubbock. A new study printed in Men's Health ranks the safest cities for drivers in the country. Des Moines, Iowa is named the safest in the country while Columbia, South Carolina is ranked the worst. In Texas, Corpus Christi is ranked as the worst place for drivers, and El Paso the best. Lubbock is number two right behind El Paso. The study used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, All State Insurance and the Governors Highway Safety Association. .
Texas fights retiree accounting measure
NEW YORK - The implosion of Enron Corp. rocked the state of Texas more than anywhere else, but some lawmakers in its home state still don't seem to get the lessons learned from that mess: the crucial need for financial transparency. Proposed legislation there seeks to block new national accounting rules that require state and local governments to disclose for the first time the projected costs of future retiree health care and other benefits. It's a potentially super-sized obligation that the public deserves to know. But at least in Texas and potentially elsewhere, they might not get it if some politicians have their way. In addition to traditional monthly pension payments, governments across the nation have long promised their workers what are known as other post-employment benefits, covering at least part of the cost of retirees' medical, dental, disability and life insurance.
Johnson and Miller: Invest in kids' health
Sometimes a dollar is just a dollar, but in the case of the Children?s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), one dollar equals $3.64. The fiscally responsible approach to funding a program in Texas should include the overall impact on the taxpayer at local, state and federal levels. For example, for each state dollar invested in CHIP, Texas receives $2.64 in federal matching funds (which come, of course, from Texas taxpayers). And the reverse is true — if we do not put up the dollar, we actually lose our $2.64 to other states. So far, Texas has forfeited more than $900 million in Texas federal matching funds by not fully funding CHIP. These funds have been returned to the U.S. Treasury and spent by other states. Most recently, the state sought to ?save? money in 2003 by removing 180,000 children from CHIP coverage.
State insurance laws keep costs too high for young adults
During six months of meetings, the governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access learned that 51 percent of Washington's 593,000 uninsured are young adults, ages 19-34. They're also the fastest-growing segment of the uninsured. What's preventing those young adults from buying health insurance? Simply put -- it's too expensive. Although they're a healthy population, young adults do understand the value of health insurance. The problem is, when weighed against the cost of buying health insurance in this state, they opt to take the risk of going without. The costs are a result of Washington's heavily regulated insurance laws. Insurance carriers have told us time and time again that they could design and market more affordable health insurance plans for people in this age bracket if they were given flexibility with our state laws -- the same flexibility they already have in Connecticut, Colorado, California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire.
Child insurance enrollment fair
The public is invited to a free day of fun at Parkdale Mall, complete with kid's activities including karaoke, games and entertainment. The event is sponsored by the BISD Health Advisory Committee, BISD Insure-A-Kid, Parkdale Mall, Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital and Entergy, as a public service targeted at enrolling kids for health insurance through Medicaid and CHIP programs.
Along with fun and games, educational opportunities in the field of food and wellness, free Healthy Choice snack samples and free health screenings from various vendors will be offered.
Children's Medicaid and the CHIP program are designed to assist families in Southeast Texas with low cost or free insurance coverage for their children. To enroll on-site, parents must bring proof of income, child support verification, child(ren)'s social security numbers, birth certificate or proof of citizenship and a copier will be available on the day of the fair.
HMO accused of delaying payment in Medicaid program
Home health agencies across Texas say they are being paid late — or not at all — by companies hired by the state to provide care to Medicaid patients with chronic health problems. The state has paid tens of millions of dollars so far this year in premiums to health maintenance organizations that in turn pay providers of medical care or long-term care services. More than 150,000 Texans who are elderly or have disabilities are enrolled in Star Plus, including more than 13,000 in a seven-county area in Central Texas. The HMO program, which is required for certain people, is supposed to save the state money and improve services for recipients of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for people with low incomes. Home health agencies say the payment problems show that the state was unprepared for the Feb.
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