Yesenia Alvarado held her daughter, 2-year-old Melanie Almaraz, a Medicaid patient, during a 2013 visit to see Dr. Alberto Vasquez for treatment of a fever at Su Clinica Familiar in Harlingen., our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Until last September, Texas had tapped this funding, which comes through what is known as the 1115 Medicaid waiver, to pay for hospital patients unable to access private insurance or Medicaid. Most states are able to get these dollars by matching the federal dollars from their general revenue. Whether the system violates the rules of the state’s 10-year 1115 funding agreement with CMS remains an open question.
The end to the stalemate “has been desperately needed in the midst of an ongoing public health emergency,” said John Hawkins, president and CEO of the Texas Hospital Association. “On behalf of our hospitals and patients, we are incredibly grateful,”Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has ordered an audit of how that unique Texas LPPF funding mechanism works and is being used, a nod to federal concerns that it’s against the rules.