Texas Legislature Passes Bill to Prevent Medicaid Expansion

The Republican-majority Texas House and Senate sent Gov. Rick
Perry (R) a proposal to prevent the state from expanding its Medicaid program
as outlined by President Barack Obama's health care reform law. Perry, a
Republican, notified the Obama administration last summer his state would not
expand Medicaid, which provides health care for low-income people. He repeated
his opposition in an April news conference at which he called expansion
"foolish." The proposal, an amendment to a Medicaid-related bill,
says state health officials "may only provide medical assistance to a
person who would have been otherwise eligible for medical assistance or for
whom federal matching funds were available under the eligibility criteria for
medical assistance in effect on December 31, 2013." The House had tacked
on the amendment after the Senate had passed a version of the bill without the
amendment. Members of both chambers met to work out differences in the
legislation. That House-Senate conference committee chose to keep the
amendment, although its members tweaked the language to prevent unintended
consequences, said the bill's author, Republican Senator Jane Nelson.

Source/more: Reuters