AUSTIN (KLIF/WBAP News) – Children’s health advocates are mounting an eleventh hour campaign to prevent state funding cuts for child services.
A year ago Texas lawmakers voted to reduce funding for pediatric services by $350 million dollars annually, targeting providers who see children on Medicaid, which covers poor and disabled families and individuals. The reductions are scheduled to begin July 15 after being delayed for months as in-hope therapy providers sued. Those efforts were reject by a court in April but opponents of the cuts are vowing to continue the fight.
Peter Clark, spokesman for the advocacy group Texans Care for Children, is quoted by the Texas Tribune: “Not only will the cuts hurt kids, but they will create new costs, such as increased demand for special education services in our schools.”
Rachel Hammon, executive director of the Texas Association of Home Care and Hospice, said rate reductions for some therapy providers will be as high as 26 percent, which some won’t be able to survive.
Opponents have been able to stall the cuts for about nine months but don’t know if they’ll be able to do so again before the reductions are felt in mid-July.
