Back on September 5th, the Texas Tribune hosted a conversation on the future of Latino health care with Dr. Esteban López, a regional president for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. Trib reporter Becca Aaronson was the moderator.
During the hour-long talk, Aaronsen asked the question, “A lot of the focus in our previous legislative session has been about reducing the cost of our Medicaid program, not expanding it, and talking about fraud prevention and things like that. There are some impressions of our Medicaid program in this state that certain lawmakers have that guide their decisions on these issues, particularly entitlement programs. Can you speak to the utility of what these programs actually are used for and the way they might be misrepresented in some cases?”
Sen. Van De Putte gives a 4-minute answer. She talks about the perception of Medicaid fraud being pervasive rather than actual fraud. She comments how this harms recipients, the vast majority of honest Medicaid providers and the Latino community.
See the full video on the Texas Tribune website.