Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES
CHIP
ERVICES/Medicaid /Medicaid and
77 th Texas Legislature
home visits, and providing language services. Medicaid does not provide reimbursement for the services of
a promotora, thus decreasing the frequency with which they are used and hindering the quality of care
provided to underserved, non-English speaking clients.
Requires state health and human service agencies, when possible, to use certified promotoras in health
outreach and education programs for recipients of Medicaid.
Medical Assistance Buy-In Pilot Project for Persons with Disabilities - S.B. 831
by Senator Moncrief
House Sponsor: Representative Coleman
Designed to encourage individuals to seek employment while also providing an opportunity for the disabled
to maintain their medical program. For most of the seriously disabled, it is cost-effective to remain
unemployed and have their medical bills paid by Medicaid.
Allows the disabled to continue a buy-in program with Medicaid until they obtain private health insurance.
Disabled persons will have a sliding scale (up to $136 per month) premium rate for purchasing Medicaid.
State Medicaid Program - S.B. 1156
by Senator Zaffirini, et al.
House Sponsors: Representative Coleman, et al.
Currently, the state of Texas and the nation are experiencing an increase in cost per Medicaid recipient due
to the general rise in health care utilization, the recent rise in caseloads, the increasing utilization and
prices of prescription drugs, and a comparative decrease in federal funding. Innovative approaches are
needed to both cut costs and expand services.
Requires the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS) to ensure those higher income recipients of
prescription drug benefits under the Medicaid program pay progressively higher percentages of the costs of
prescription drugs.
Allows pharmacies to retain copayments on pharmaceuticals as a part of the Medicaid reimbursement
provided to the pharmacy.
Establishes certain criteria for providing Medicaid to qualified aliens.
Requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to ensure that there are adequate
protections to avoid a conflict of interest with the entity with which DHS contracts for Medicaid delivery and
managed care organization for either the Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This is
to ensure that there are adequate protections for recipients to freely choose a health plan without being
inappropriately induced to join an entity’s health plan.
Senate Research Center 143