Few Bright Spots in Perry’s Health Care Record

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Mr. Perry’s critics say the state’s Republican leadership has compounded the crisis by treating health coverage as a “gated community.” They have chipped away at Medicaid rates paid to physicians and providers, curbed eligibility for state health services in tough budget years, and cut financing for loan repayment and medical education for fledgling doctors.

Mr. Perry and Republican leaders have fought efforts to roll out federal health reform in Texas. Meanwhile, the growing ranks of the uninsured have placed extraordinary burdens on Texas’ health care providers, including cash-strapped public hospitals and clinics.

“Year after year, session after session, they’ve looked at health care not as an investment in our community but as something they resent doing, like a social welfare item,” said Kim Ross, a health policy consultant based in Austin.

According to Mr. Perry’s staff, Texas provides an adequate safety net to those “truly in need.” But in 2003, in the face of a huge budget shortfall, he supported the Legislature’s decision to slash the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, eliminating coverage for more than 200,000 children, or 40 percent of those enrolled. (It took seven years to restore CHIP enrollment to its pre-2003 level.)


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/us/few-bright-spots-in-rick-perrys-health-care-record-in-texas.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24