Dallas Morning News
Originally Posted: August 6, 2015
Texas’ cuts to Medicaid could leave poor without therapy
AUSTIN — Even as they left nearly $18 billion unspent, Texas lawmakers ordered a $350 million cut this year to Medicaid pay for therapists who perform one of health care’s most exacting jobs.
In a two-year budget that was flush enough to trim taxes and triple state spending on border security, the Legislature told Medicaid officials to slash nearly a quarter of the $1.4 billion they shell out for acute care — or outpatient — therapy.
The move threatens the jobs of speech, physical and occupational therapists who work with 445,000 poor Texans afflicted with, among other things, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism and Alzheimer’s disease. This part of the sprawling state-federal Medicaid program also offers speech therapy to children born prematurely, who often find it hard to swallow and speak. READ MORE