Austin The Texas Association of Business (TAB) today released a report entitled Expanding Medicaid Managed Care in Texas: The Right Dosage for Texas Recipients a comprehensive primer on the benefits of expanding Medicaid managed care (MMC) in the State of Texas specifically in the Rio Grande Valley.
The businesses and employers of Texas want to see increases in the access and quality of health care services available to their employees to their families and to the entire workforce" said TAB President Bill Hammond. Not only would Texas be saving business and taxpayer dollars but most importantly we would be increasing the access and quality of health care services to thousands of Texas citizens" said Hammond.
The State of Texas is now facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall in the next biennium" said Hammond. Nowhere can we identify potential savings easier than in the health care arena. By expanding the Medicaid managed care system in Texas we can save over $160 million in the next three years alone."
Despite MMCs success and the strong evidence of over-utilization of medicine in fee-for-service based areas 350000 Medicaid recipients in the Rio Grande Valley are excluded from MMC programs as a result of a floor amendment to House Bill (H.B.) 2292 during the 78th Regular Session in 2003. Since that time the medical spending in McAllen an area exempted by H.B. 2292 has grown five times faster than the medical spending in El Paso an area with similar demographics and in the United States as a whole.
Texas knows MMC works both for the Medicaid recipient and for Texas budget. The employers and citizens of Texas deserve to have the best costs and the best access to health care services available throughout our entire State.
The full report can be found at
http://www.txbiz.org/uploads/MedicaidManagedCare.pdf.
Founded in 1922 the Texas Association of Business is a broad-based bipartisan organization representing more than 3000 small and large Texas employers and 200 local chambers of commerce.
