State Didn't Study Budget Cuts for Children's Therapy
Lawyers for the state were again in Travis County court on Monday defending deep cuts made by state lawmakers to a speech and physical therapy program for poor and disabled children.
Therapists and families have now sued the Texas Health and Human Services Commission twice over the impending budget cuts, which they say will force health professionals to drop out of the program and illegally jeopardize care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
New evidence presented Monday paints a clearer picture of discussions taking place inside the state’s main health agency as it seeks to follow lawmakers’ wishes by slashing by roughly 20 percent the payments therapists receive from Medicaid — the public insurance program for the poor and disabled. A Travis County judge dismissed the previous suit before it went to trial, when the state announced it would delay implementing the cuts until Oct. 1.
The seemingly simple goal to reduce payments has been complicated by some ambiguous language in the state budget, which orders the hefty cuts but also directs the health commission to consider “access to care.” Families of children say the speech, physical and occupational therapy covered by Medicaid can be life-saving — by helping kids learn to nurse, walk and speak, for example — and that the state is poised to limit access by forcing providers to drop out of the program.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/21/state-says-it-never-studied-how-cuts-will-affect-c/
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