Texas Supreme Court Allows Medicaid Cuts to Children's Therapy to Proceed
A significant cut to the amount of money Texas pays therapists who treat children with disabilities was finally cleared to take effect — more than one year after state lawmakers originally ordered it — when the Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a lawsuit over the budget cut's legality.
Last year, a group of concerned Texans filed a lawsuit seeking to block the $350 million cut to Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor and disabled, from taking effect. That group included speech, physical and occupational therapy providers and the families of children who receive their service. They argued that the cuts were so steep that providers would have to close their businesses and forgo seeing as many as 60,000 children.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and several health insurers with state contracts denied those allegations, arguing that therapy providers were overpaid by Texas Medicaid compared with private health insurance plans and that payment cuts would not reduce children’s access to services.
The Supreme Court’s announcement means that a lower court’s decision, which found the lawsuit lacked standing, will remain in place, clearing the way for state officials to begin cutting payments to in-home therapists by as much as 25 percent. The Supreme Court had temporarily blocked the cuts from taking effect while it considered whether it wanted to hear the case.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/23/texas-supreme-court-allows-medicaid-cuts-childrens/
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