Bill Text: TX HCR29 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to establish a Medicaid block grant program for Texas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-25 - Referred to Appropriations [HCR29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR29-Introduced.html
86R3549 SME-D | ||
By: Landgraf | H.C.R. No. 29 |
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WHEREAS, The State of Texas could produce better health | ||
outcomes for enrollees and could better protect taxpayers through | ||
Medicaid block grants; and | ||
WHEREAS, States are often constrained in delivering adequate | ||
health care to residents in need because of onerous federal | ||
regulations; block grants, however, would enable states to design | ||
health care programs that best serve their citizens and to better | ||
handle fluctuations in the economy, population growth, and health | ||
care costs; and | ||
WHEREAS, According to the Texas Health and Human Services | ||
Commission, the state would have saved $4 billion on health care in | ||
2015 by using block grants instead of the present Medicaid model; | ||
moreover, annual cost savings under a block grant program could | ||
exceed $6 billion by 2023; and | ||
WHEREAS, Such savings could allow the state to increase | ||
public education funding and relieve a notable burden from school | ||
districts and property tax payers; currently, Texas provides less | ||
than 40 percent of funding for school districts, with property | ||
taxes making up the difference; without additional funding by the | ||
state, the obligation will continue to fall to homeowners; and | ||
WHEREAS, The current Medicaid program constrains the state's | ||
ability to address health care needs at the local level and places | ||
unnecessary financial strain on taxpayers; savings from block | ||
grants would allow Texas to better address the needs of its citizens | ||
at the local level; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby urge the United States Congress to provide the Lone Star | ||
State with Medicaid block grants and allow Texas to administer its | ||
own health care for the poor; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members | ||
of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this | ||
resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to | ||
the Congress of the United States of America. |