For a future discussion of federalism, and especially the relationship that the national government can forge with local governments - by passing the states, comes a story from the Washington Post on how some Texas counties are looking to go along with the national governments efforts to expand Medicaid by going around the state.
Governor Perry has vowed to not expand the program.
From the WP:
Local officials in
Texas are discussing whether to band together to expand Medicaid
coverage in some of the state’s biggest counties, making an end run
around Gov. Rick Perry’s opposition to the expanded program included in
President Obama’s health-care law.
For years, Texas’s six most populous counties, as well as some
smaller localities, have offered free or low-cost health care for
uninsured residents with incomes as much as three times the federal
poverty level, or about $57,000 for a family of three. The cost of the
programs: about $2 billion a year.
George
Hernandez Jr., CEO of University Health System in San Antonio, came up
with the idea of the alternative, county-run Medicaid expansion, and
said he has been discussing it with other officials in his county,
Bexar. “They are all willing,” he said. He added that he has also been
talking up the proposal with officials in other big counties, such as
those including Houston and Dallas, and is optimistic they’ll support
the idea.
Robert Earley, CEO of JPS Health Network, the public
hospital system serving Tarrant County, which includes the Fort Worth
area, said he could see the idea catching on.
- Click here for Fact Checker info on Medicaid.
- Wikipedia: Medicaid.
- Texas Medicaid Program.