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Texas’ application to increase Medicaid protection for brand new moms from two months to 6 months has been denied by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the company supplied no fast purpose for the rejection.
Legislators who pushed for the extension say they consider the application was rejected due to language that may very well be construed to exclude pregnant girls who’ve abortions, together with medically needed abortions. The language within the invoice that handed through the 2021 legislative session prolonged protection to pregnant girls who ship a child or have an “involuntary miscarriage.”
“That’s not a medical term, involuntary miscarriage,” mentioned Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, a nurse and former well being educator. “What I’m concerned about, and I think what maybe was the concern here, is those people who wanted their pregnancies to come to full term but have complications and a termination later in pregnancy and should be allowed to remain on Medicaid.”
Kelli Weldon, a spokesperson for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, mentioned CMS has verbally confirmed that Texas’ application just isn’t approvable; HHSC officers have requested written affirmation.
Weldon directed questions on why the application was not approvable to CMS, which didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.
The stalled-out application course of is a “self-inflicted wound,” Howard mentioned. As a part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the federal authorities eased the application necessities for states that expanded Medicaid for a full yr postpartum.
The Texas House of Representatives overwhelmingly accredited a invoice that supplied 12 months of protection, however the Senate amended the laws to 6 months as an alternative. Because of that change, the state was required to undergo the extra onerous application course of.
House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, blamed President Joe Biden for the application being rejected.
“This is the latest hypocritical, disappointing move by the Biden administration that puts the care and needs of Texas mothers and babies at jeopardy — all in the name of partisan politics,” he mentioned in a press release on Twitter.
Phelan indicated that he plans to as soon as once more push for a full yr of postpartum Medicaid. State Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, who filed the unique invoice final session, mentioned she is optimistic about it passing each chambers subsequent yr.
“It was already my plan to work on adding this additional six months that we did not receive during the last legislative session,” Rose mentioned. “But especially in light of today’s news and the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s never been more critical that our moms have access to comprehensive health care.”
Rose mentioned she can even push to take away any language that will have resulted within the application being denied.
Texas is certainly one of simply 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid; in consequence, Medicaid in Texas largely serves low-income kids. Pregnant Texans usually tend to be uninsured and fewer prone to search early prenatal care than the remainder of the nation, and the state has staggering charges of maternal mortality and morbidity, particularly amongst Black girls.
Expanding postpartum Medicaid to 1 yr was one of many prime suggestions of the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. Howard mentioned that is going to turn out to be solely extra urgent now that Texas has banned all abortions, besides to avoid wasting the lifetime of the pregnant affected person.
“Over half of births in Texas are Medicaid births already,” she mentioned. “Women who have means will be able to access abortion by traveling, and those with more limited means will have more barriers, so logically, that means an increase in Medicaid births.”
Right now, as a result of ongoing federally declared Public Health Emergency, nobody is being moved off of the Medicaid rolls, even after their eligibility expires. That state of emergency is ready to run out this fall, although the federal authorities has prolonged it many instances already.
“We are hopeful CMS will work with us toward approval before the end of the Public Health Emergency to ensure women in Texas Medicaid continue to receive postpartum care,” Weldon mentioned in an emailed assertion.
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story by The Texas Tribune Source link
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