Key Texas House Republican may force Senate to take stand on ‘health care compact’

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http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/texas-legislature/headlines/20110606-key-texas-house-republican-may-force-senate-to-take-stand-on-health-care-compact.ece

AUSTIN — The House’s chief health policy writer may force the Senate’s hand on a controversial “health care compact” bill that would try to turn Medicaid and Medicare into block grant programs run by the states.

A House panel advanced Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s stand-alone interstate compact bill Monday, but Kolkhorst said afterward that she may attach the bill to a comprehensive health care measure the House is scheduled to debate Wednesday. The larger bill is considered necessary for the state’s next two-year budget to be balanced.

“Maybe we’ll put it on there,” said Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. “You never know.”

The Senate has been slower than the House to embrace the bill, which is a favorite of groups wanting to curb federal power. Under the proposal, states could join and, if Congress approved, could agree to cap the federal government’s contribution to several health care programs. In return, they would be freed from current federal laws on eligibility and benefits.

Similar laws have been approved in Oklahoma and Georgia.

“We as lawmakers make better decisions with our dollars than Washington, D.C.,” said Kolkhorst, who heads the House’s public health panel.

The House Select Committee on State Sovereignty passed the compact bill, 5-0. All five of the panel’s Republicans voted for it, while the two Democrats were absent.

During a brief hearing, supporter Mario Loyola of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation said states could “try market-based solutions that put consumers first,” while retreating from traditional coverage that picks up nearly all of the tab for routine care, which encourages overuse.

Opponent Anne Dunkelberg of the center-left think tank the Center for Public Policy Priorities said in future recessions or natural disasters, Texas would forfeit enhanced federal funding of the Medicaid program for the poor or the Medicare program for seniors. She said the bill also wouldn’t help cover Texas’ 6.4 million uninsured people.