Incoming Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
Incoming Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is raising some eyebrows among conservatives by
appearing to be open to the idea of finding a way to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. Texas alone accounts for one-quarter of the U.S. population in the Medicaid gap—those people in the non-expansion states who make too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid and too little to qualify for subsidies to buy insurance on the exchanges. That dubious distinction has led a task force made up of healthcare providers, researchers, business leaders and advisers from across the state, to recommend in a
just-released report that lawmakers negotiate with the federal government on expansion to cover the one million people left out. That pressure is possibly influencing Abbott.
His public pronouncements haven't differed much from his very conservative predecessor's, but in private, expansion advocates have seen glimmers of hope. During a meeting with state legislators last month, the incoming governor said he would seek out more information about the Medicaid expansion plan that conservative Utah has been negotiating with the federal government. It's a huge reversal, as Texas was one of the states that industry groups had more or less written off in late 2013, at least for the foreseeable future.
"For those who support the expansion of Medicaid, we're encouraged that there's an opening there to look at different models and maybe create a hybrid and see what works best for Texas," Rep. Carol Alvarado, one of the Democrats who attended the meeting, told TPM. […]
"I still think (Texas) expanding is a long-shot, but clearly the governor recognizes the economic impact that expansion could have for residents and the healthcare industry in the state," Caroline Pearson, vice president at Avalere Health, an independent consulting firm, told TPM in an email. "For other Republican governors, Texas would certainly be a bellwether, since the state has previously been one of the staunchest opponents of expansion."
Another sign of Abbott's potential wavering is another new, counter report from Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the
rabidly right-wing National Center for Policy Analysis. Herrick's
study says that adding more people into Medicaid would be bad for the people getting Medicaid because it would mean they would have a harder time finding doctors because so many people need affordable insurance that they would flock to the program and overwhelm providers. It's the very fact that Texas has more low-income uninsured people than any other state in the country that argues against Texas accepting the funding to insure those people.
Abbott's apparent openness to start working with the federal government on a Medicaid compromise is enough to start making conservative heads explode. Imagine what would happen if Texas actually caved!