86R3549 SME-D
By: Landgraf H.C.R. No. 29
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The State of Texas could produce better health
outcomes for enrollees and could better protect taxpayers through
Medicaid block grants; and
WHEREAS, States are often constrained in delivering adequate
health care to residents in need because of onerous federal
regulations; block grants, however, would enable states to design
health care programs that best serve their citizens and to better
handle fluctuations in the economy, population growth, and health
care costs; and
WHEREAS, According to the Texas Health and Human Services
Commission, the state would have saved $4 billion on health care in
2015 by using block grants instead of the present Medicaid model;
moreover, annual cost savings under a block grant program could
exceed $6 billion by 2023; and
WHEREAS, Such savings could allow the state to increase
public education funding and relieve a notable burden from school
districts and property tax payers; currently, Texas provides less
than 40 percent of funding for school districts, with property
taxes making up the difference; without additional funding by the
state, the obligation will continue to fall to homeowners; and
WHEREAS, The current Medicaid program constrains the state's
ability to address health care needs at the local level and places
unnecessary financial strain on taxpayers; savings from block
grants would allow Texas to better address the needs of its citizens
at the local level; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby urge the United States Congress to provide the Lone Star
State with Medicaid block grants and allow Texas to administer its
own health care for the poor; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members
of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this
resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to
the Congress of the United States of America.