In Texas, health advocates often find themselves playing defense to encourage leaders to preserve the state’s relatively frugal public service offerings while also pushing for more.
That’s why a $300 million request to lawmakers next year from the state’s social services agency — the Texas Health and Human Services Commission — to improve the agency’s complicated Medicaid application process has thrilled the state’s nonprofit policy groups.
If granted, it could mean more than 1,000 new workers and millions spent upgrading a decades-old computer system to make it easier for Texans to apply for Medicaid health insurance for adults and children, food stamps and other programs.