On January 1, the Affordable Care Act changed the rules states use to determine whether people can get most types of Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage. Here’s a list of some of the more significant changes: Medicaid … Read More
December 31, 2013 — A 57-year-old New Hampshire dentist indicted on 189 counts of Medicaid fraud faces up to 1,300 years in prison, according to a story in the Concord Monitor. Nicholas Marshall, DDS, who practices in Manchester, is accused … Read More
A smile is one of the first things people notice about you, and yet it was a thing Robina Rayamajhi would not allow herself to show. When she was a child, dental problems left untended in her native Nepal had … Read More
December 20, 2013 — Almost half a million Coloradans are expected to gain dental benefits under Medicaid by 2016, but they’ll have a hard time finding a dentist to treat them, according to a study by the Colorado Health Institute. … Read More
December 19, 2013 — United Health Foundation’s 2013 America’s Health Rankings report has ranked U.S. states according to their health and includes visits to the dentist in its data. The healthiest states have a higher concentration of dentists, and their … Read More
Supporters of the Affordable Care Act and its so-called navigators, who are charged with helping uninsured Texans sign up for health insurance coverage, on Friday criticized proposals for additional regulations of navigators during a Texas Department of Insurance hearing. Proposed … Read More
Debra Jean Velasquez, of Robstown, and Sylvia Salinas Ramirez, of Driscoll, have been ordered to prison in a scheme to defraud the Texas Medicaid program through fraudulent home health billings, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Texas Attorney … Read More
For Martha Blaine, the 10 Affordable Care Act “navigators” who meet clients daily on behalf of the Community Council of Greater Dallas blend in with the rest of her staff. “They are all employees,” said Blaine, the organization’s executive director. … Read More
Washington, DC – A Houston doctor has been arrested on charges related to her alleged participation in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment.Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal … Read More
RICHARDSON — Members of the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee met in North Texas on Monday to address the latest controversy surrounding health care “navigators,” the workers trained to help uninsured Americans find coverage under the Affordable Care … Read More
December 12, 2013 — The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered GE Capital Retail Bank and its subsidiary, CareCredit, to refund up to $34.1 million to potentially more than 1 million consumers who were victims of deceptive credit … Read More
Texas has the second-highest number of people who have purchased health plans through the embattled online insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, according to enrollment figures for October and November released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health … Read More
AUSTIN — Democrats have responded to the felony indictment of a former high-ranking official of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency by attacking Attorney General Greg Abbott.The 2014 governor’s race is expected to pit Abbott, a Republican, against Wendy Davis, a Democratic state … Read More
Update: It’s Day Two in the civil trial of District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Throughout the trial’s first day, a host of witnesses testified for the prosecution, recounting the events leading to Lehmberg’s booking at the Travis County Jail and what … Read More
On April 1, Texas’ most powerful elected officials gathered at the state Capitol to rail against Medicaid. In a packed press conference room with protesters shouting outside the door, Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and U.S. Sens. … Read More
A year after Texas was slated to increase Medicaid payments to primary care physicians under the Affordable Care Act, the state has received federal approval to implement the change. Although the ACA required states to increase payments to primary care … Read More
To address privacy concerns raised by state leaders, the Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday proposed additional rules for the so-called navigators directed to help Texans find health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act. TDI Proposes New Rules for … Read More
Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek raised concerns on Tuesday about a temporary process set up by the Obama administration to help transfer applications for Medicaid from the federal health insurance marketplace over to the state. “As Jan. … Read More
WASHINGTON — For the past decade, Texas has been at war with Washington. Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott have fought the federal government on health care, voting rights and environmental regulations. On spending, new programs and regulations, … Read More
Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas will need to repay nearly three quarters of a million dollars wrongly billed to Medicare for unallowable dental services, the Office of the Inspector General states in an audit report for the facility. Due to … Read More
In fast-growing Texas, which is home to one in 11 of the nation’s children, child poverty has continued to rise despite an improving economy, according to a new report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. … Read More
Many Texans in individual health care plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act have been spared cancellation notices. But for the Texans whose plans have been dropped, health care experts are encouraging them to proceed carefully. In Texas, … Read More
December 2, 2013 — Can orthodontists select an individual set of records needed for each patient rather than the full suite of dental models, facial and intraoral photographs, a set of 2D radiographs, and clinical measurements? A study in PLOS … Read More
AUSTIN — Insurance companies, brokers and consumer advocates say a highly publicized national wave of health plan cancellations largely bypassed Texas. There are several complex reasons, but one of the biggest is this: Following the example of Arkansas and other … Read More
As technical problems persist with the online federal health insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber decided Friday to postpone shuttering the state’s high-risk health insurance pool until March 31. TDI Postpones Closure of … Read More
Critics of the Affordable Care Act have lambasted President Obama’s signature legislation as it struggles with technical glitches and as thousands of people nationally report the cancellation of their existing health insurance plans. But a report released Thursday by Families … Read More
November 19, 2013 — A New York judge on November 18 ordered a new trial in the Small Smiles case after ruling that a lawyer for the insurance company stalked the jury during the trial. The judge found that the … Read More
BROWNSVILLE, Texas –– Texas spent $400 million on speech therapy for children under Medicaid last year, up 30 percent from three years ago. Speech therapists along a 76-mile stretch of Texas Highway 83, from Brownsville to Mission, collect more money … Read More
WASHINGTON — Bowing to pressure, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced changes to his health care law to give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled. Obama to allow sale of plans canceled … Read More
Fewer than 3,000 Texans successfully found private health insurance during the first month of the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period to purchase a health plan through an online federal marketplace, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Department … Read More
Greg Abbott outlines many policy proposals including passing law to prevent state agencies from working with the Affordable Care Act. Abbott Unveils Proposals for Privacy, Ethics and DNA | The Texas Tribune.
BEAUMONT, Texas — A Southeast Texas dentist who pleaded guilty to health care fraud has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison and must pay $835,000. A federal judge in Beaumont on Thursday sentenced Dr. Terrence Ewing Syler to … Read More
In Dallas to raise cash for Senate candidates, President Barack Obama took a side trip Wednesday to pressure Gov. Rick Perry to expand Medicaid and thank volunteers working to help uninsured Texans. He called it a “no-brainer” that Texas could … Read More
President Barack Obama plans to call on Texas Gov. Rick Perry – one of the most prominent Obamacare foes in the country – to follow the lead of a handful of other Republican governors and agree to the expansion of … Read More
WASHINGTON — With 6.4 million uninsured residents, Texas is a major target for anyone eager to put a dent in the number of Americans without health coverage. It’s also a bastion of resistance to Obamacare. The governor won’t set up … Read More
DOUGLAS WILSON | Texas Health and Human Services Inspector General Adult diapers are delivered to a resident who doesn’t need and didn’t order them. A man says he needs your benefit card and PIN number for your free phone. A … Read More
by Becca Aaronson, The Texas Tribune November 5, 2013 The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General, which says that hundreds of millions of dollars have been misspent on fraudulent Medicaid orthodontic and dental claims, has lost … Read More
Attorney General Greg Abbott, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas governor, holds a single-digit lead over the likely Democratic nominee, state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. UT/TT … Read More
In Touch: News from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
AUSTIN — Freed from a nearly yearlong moratorium, Texas’ revamped $3 billion cancer agency will take another look at research grants frozen by state lawmakers before finally releasing millions in taxpayer dollars, the agency’s top executive said Thursday. Revamped Texas … Read More
