News and Links

AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN

• • Therapists, Parents Urge State Officials to Restore Medicaid Money (05/27/17)

• • Denied Help, Denied Hope (11/3/17)

• • Managed Care is Hurting Medicaid Patients

• • Hundreds of Texas Children Denied Medicaid Services

• • Care Tenuous for Texas Foster Children on Medicaid Managed Care Plans

• • Amid Complaints, Texas Panel Scrutinizes Companies Who Run Medicaid

 

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

• • A Shock to the System / Severely Disabled Kids Lives At Risk, Parents Say (Feb 2017)

• • Parents of Severely Disabled Children Urge Lawmakers to Reconsider Managed Care Plan (03/02/17)

• • Despite House Plan, Texas Officials Eye Deeper Cuts to Therapy for Disabled Children (04/06/17)

• • Medicaid Paid $5.5M to Cover Health Care Services for Dead Texans (12/13/17)

• • A Preventable Tragedy / The Preventable Tragedy of D’ashon Morris (06/03/18)

• • As Patients Suffer, Companies Profit / Skimping on Care (06/04/18)

• • Failed Networks: Barriers with Devastating Consequences / Texas Pays Companies for ‘Sham Networks’ of Doctors (06/05/18)

• • Glossover of the Horror (06/06/18)

• • Parents vs. The Austin Machine (06/07/18)

• • Lawmakers Call for Change After Pain & Profit, but Abbott is Silent (06/07/18)

• • Texas, this Mismanaged Medicaid System is Not How We’re Supposed to Treat Our Most Vulnerable Citizens (06/11/18)

• • Texas Legislature Cries Foul Over Medicaid Tragedies, But Fails to Admit Its Own Role (editorial – 06/12/18)

• • Lawmakers Want Answers After ‘Pain & Profit’ Series Exposes Widespread Failure to Care for Vulnerable Texans (06/20/18)

• • For Mother in Pain & Profit Investigation, No Solace, Solution in House Human Services Hearing (06/22/18)

• • These Are Human Beings (06/29/18)

• • If You Want to Fix Texas’ Medicaid System, Listen to Those Suffering In The System (06/26/18)

• • Texas Couples Feel Pressure to Divorce to Afford Care for Disabled, Ill Children

• • We Haven’t Forgotten D’ashon Morris (10/20/18)

• • A Recipe for Disaster (10/18)

• • Up Against A Stacked System (11/18)

• • Eight Steps Texas can take to fix its managed care mess (12/8/18)

 

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

• • Texas Senate is Not Keeping Its Promise (editorial 05/18/17)

• • Report: State Cuts Led to Drop in Therapy for Young Children on Gulf Coast (12/08/17)

• • The Forgotten Medicaid Recipients / How Much Is Life Worth? (07/17)

 

HOUSTON PRESS

• • As Lege Fails to Restore Funding, A Child Loses Therapy (08/17/17)

 

NBC DFW

• • STAR Kids Program Worries Texas Family (04/06/17)

• • Pain & Profit: The Preventable Tragedy of D’ashon Morris (06/04/18)

• • NBC DFW: Mother Battles State for Insurance Coverage After Tragedy (06/27/18)

 

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

• • Parents Fight for Services for Medically Fragile Kids (02/20/17)

• • Severely Disabled Children Struggle Under Managed Care Program (04/18/17)

• • Pro-life Credentials Are On The Line In The Special Session (08/12/17)

• • Parents of Disabled Kids Despair of Seeing State Cuts for Therapy Services Restored (08/16/17)

• • Audit: HHSC Inappropriately Allowed $30M in Contractor Bonus Pay (01/31/18)

• • Lawmakers Question State Leaders, Company Executives Over Reported Failures in Medicaid Managed Care Program (06/27/18)

 

TEXAS STANDARD

• • “Everyone’s Dropping the Ball”: How Outsourced State-Funded Care Is Neglecting Vulnerable Patients (06/06/18)

• • Lawmakers Question Oversight of Privatized Care for Poor Texans (07/18)

 

TEXAS TRIBUNE

• • Texas State Senators are Failing Their Neediest Constituents (editorial  05/17/17)

• • Patch the State Budget for Fragile Kids (TribTalk editorial 08/02/17)

• • Adios, Texas (TribTalk editorial 01/23/18)

• • Texas Speaker Calls for Investigation into State Health Agency Contracting [Superior bonuses] (02/18)

• • Texas Children’s Therapy Providers Face Dilemma Over Offering Services (03/22/18)

• • Lawmakers to Address Neglect of Medically Vulnerable Texans Following DMN Report (06/19/18)

• • House Committees Hear Concerns on Managed Care Program, Medically Vulnerable Texas (06/27/18)

 

WFAA

• • Parents Says State Mandate Puts Kids At Risk (08/31/16)

• • Advisory Committee Recommends Delay in Changes for Medically Fragile Children (10/05/16)

• • Family Considers Divorce to Afford Daughters Care

 

OTHER

• • NY Times: Medicaid’s Nickel-and-Dime Routine (06/07/18)

• • TODAY SHOW: Family Considers Divorce to Afford Daughters Care

• • KXAN: 18k People Will Have to Switch Insurance as Sendero Leaves the Market

• • KXXV: Parents Concerned About Therapy Program Changes (02/18)

• • Bloomberg.com: A Baby Girl, Ready to Go Home, Is Still in the Hospital 400 days later (01/09/18)

• • Publicnewsservice.org: Budget Cuts Keep Texas Kids with Disabilities from Getting Therapy (10/20/17)

• • DFW Child: Texas Parents Fight For Medicaid (09/27/17)

• • NewsChannel10 Amarillo: New Medicaid Policy Raises Local Concern (08/04/17)

• • AP News: Texas Medicaid Cuts Leave Special Needs Kids Without Therapy (07/02/17)

• • MSNBC: This is an Ethical Issue (07/03/17)

• • KXAN: Family Battles State for Funds in Daughter’s Rare Skin Disorder (06/05/17)

• • Salon.com: Texas Abortion Foes Claim They Want to Protect Children with Disabilities—but only before they’re born (04/04/17)

• • Houston Leader: Changes to Legislation Put Texas Children At Risk (03/14/17)

• • Fox 7 Austin: Hundreds Gather At the Capitol for Protection of Disabled Children (03/02/17)

• • CBS 11 DFW: Parents Worry Changes to State Program Will Put Medically Fragile Kids At Risk (10/30/16)

• • Breitbart.com: Texas’ Medically Fragile Kids Face Managed Care Crisis (10/24/16)

• • Brownwood News: Local Family Seeks Help to Keep Medical Coverage for Seriously Ill Children (10/23/16)

• • KPRC2 – Click2Houston: Medicaid Changes, Kids Lose Doctors (09/09/16)

• • CBS19 – KYTX: New Managed Care Plan Forces E. Texas Children to Find New Doctors (09/09/16)

• • Fox 26 Houston – What’s Your Point Program discussion (08/12/16)

• • Fox 26 Houston – Family In Crisis of Care (08/08/16)

• • News 4 SA: STAR Kids Program Raising Concerns for Special Needs Families (08/04/16)

• • Mother Jones: Six-Year-Old Moira Is One of the Sickest People in America. So Why Is The State Trying to Gut Her Health Care?

 

Media Stories

Severely disabled children struggle under managed care program​
​Changes to STAR Kids Program Worries Texas Family
Severely disabled kids labeled at risk as Texas enacts Medicaid cost-savings plan
Press Release – February 1, 2017
Press Release – October 4, 2016
Response to SA-Express Article – Sept. 20, 2016
​Press Release – August 30, 2016 / Eden’s Story
​Stakeholder Comments
​Letter to Governor Abbott – August 1, 2016
Press Release- July 19, 2016