TITLE: Urging Congress to establish a Medicaid block grant program for Texas.

SUMMARY: Urging Congress to establish a Medicaid block grant program for Texas.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, The State of Texas could produce better health outcomes for enrollees and could better protect taxpayers through Medicaid block grants; and WHEREAS, States are often constrained in delivering adequate health care to residents in need because of onerous federal regulations; block grants, however, would enable states to design health care programs that best serve their citizens and to better handle fluctuations in the economy, population growth, and health care costs; and WHEREAS, According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state would have saved $4 billion on health care in 2015 by using block grants instead of the present Medicaid model; moreover, annual cost savings under a block grant program could exceed $6 billion by 2023; and WHEREAS, Such savings could allow the state to increase public education funding and relieve a notable burden from school districts and property tax payers; currently, Texas provides less than 40 percent of funding for school districts, with property taxes making up the difference; without additional funding by the state, the obligation will continue to fall to homeowners; and WHEREAS, The current Medicaid program constrains the state's ability to address health care needs at the local level and places unnecessary financial strain on taxpayers; savings from block grants would allow Texas to better address the needs of its citizens at the local level; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby urge the United States Congress to provide the Lone Star State with Medicaid block grants and allow Texas to administer its own health care for the poor; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.