An impassioned editorial in The Texas Observer this week asked the question, is there anyone less qualified to manage Medicaid than the Texas Legislature? The editorial challenged the Legislature’s view of Medicaid as a potent threat to Texas liberty. The author writes that Medicaid “is the difference between getting treatment for diabetes and losing a limb to amputation; between receiving physical therapy and using a wheelchair; between a healthy pregnancy and a catastrophic one.” Still, the Legislature has consistently sought to gut or abolish the program.
A recent budget bill cut therapy services for severely disabled children, many of whom need the treatment simply to continue living. After a backlash, the cuts have been partially rolled back, but the question posed by the Observer remains: Who is this rancor helping?
