Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today sent a bicameral letter with members of the Texas delegation to the Biden administration expressing concerns regarding the Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments (DSH) and Uncompensated Care Pool (UCP) provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBB) as well as the Biden Administration’s rescission of Texas’ 1115 waiver.
Texas would be one of the hardest hit states in regards to these provisions, with Texas seeing one-third of the nationwide cuts to these payments. Texas would receive a $150 million in cuts out of the total $450 million in cuts nationwide to critical programs that provide care to Texas’s most vulnerable.
- Read Sens. Cruz and Rick Scott’s (R-FL) op-ed in The Hill covering these dangerous provisions here.
In April 2021, the Biden administration revoked a 10-year 1115 waiver for Texas’ Medicaid program that was granted in the final days of the Trump administration. In response to this announcement, Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with 20 other members, sent a bicameral letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra expressing their concern and disappointment for the administration rescinding the waiver.
Co-signers of the letter in the House of Representatives include Congressmen:
- Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
- Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)
- Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas)
- Jake Ellzey (R-Texas)
- Pat Fallon (R-Texas), and
- Van Taylor (R-Texas)
“The state of Texas is directly and blatantly being targeted by the Biden Administration. This is unacceptable. Texas’ most vulnerable patients should not lose access to healthcare because of partisan politics.
"I ask that you immediately approve Texas’ Medicaid 1115 waiver so that no Texan loses access to the care they need.
"I also urge you to work with congressional leadership to remove the 12.5 percent cut from Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments as well as reduced payments from states’ Uncompensated Care Pools.”
Read the full text of the letter here.
