Texas bishops urge President Biden to re-open healthcare funding for poor Texans

Approximately $10 billion in jeopardy due to disagreements regarding processing of payments to health care providers

AUSTIN — The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops (TCCB) has written President Joe Biden, asking him to intervene in a process which is severely impacting the health of poorer communities in Texas.

Non-governmental hospitals provide at least half of the Medicaid hospital safety net in the state, ensuring that approximately five million Texas on Medicaid have access to the same healthcare as commercially insured Texans.

Due to internal disagreements between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and state entities, hospitals have not received the established payments to cover their actual costs of providing care to Medicaid patients.

In their letter to the president, the bishops ask him to directly intervene to resolve the conflict. “Texas’ most vulnerable residents—including the minority communities we serve—face a menacingly growing risk of losing access to care each day that funding is not restored,” the bishops wrote. “This stalemate must end. We urge you to act immediately to direct your administration to quickly approve the DPPs and withdraw any objections to the LPPFs. The viability of our safety net rests on your decision.”

The entire letter from the TCCB is available at here. Background material on the issue is available here.

The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops is the association of the Roman Catholic bishops of Texas. The TCCB represents 15 dioceses and 19 active bishops. Through the TCCB, the bishops provide a moral and social public policy voice, accredit the state's Catholic schools, and maintain archives that reflect the work and the history of the Catholic Church in Texas.