The Dallas Morning News recently published a five-part investigative series highlighting the failures of our state’s Medicaid managed care system for the most vulnerable in our state. For Democrats in the Texas House, this is absolutely unacceptable.
Entitled “Pain & Profit,” the reports show some of the most egregious cases of mismanaged care in our state, all in the name of profit for private healthcare companies. In one situation, a woman paralyzed from the neck down faced cuts to how long her aides could help her through each day. This left her alone, unable to move, and in pain for more than 17 hours a day.
Unfortunately, the pain is all too real for 8,000+ Texans who, like the woman above, have medical needs that simply aren’t being met. And complaints are growing — up more than 26 percent — from patients who say private healthcare companies are refusing them services.
This is a failure of leadership, plain and simple. And my Democratic colleagues and I won’t stop fighting to make certain this never happens again.
