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The Business of Health Care Report
On today's program, we'll examine the important health care issues
facing Texas in 2003. Texas lawmakers convene next month to craft the budget for fiscal
years 2004 and 2005, and they face enormous challenges to fund the state's needs - especially in a year when funds are
in short supply. Preliminary 2003 budget requests exceed the current state budget by
more than $8 billion - a figure driven by projected increases in health care costs for state employees and teachers,
Medicaid recipients and children. This, coupled with an economic slowdown, will hinder the state's ability to adequately
fund public health programs that provide care for underserved populations. Health care costs have been increasing at double-digit rates for several
years. Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are expected to cost the state over $2.4 billion more than
expected in the current budget and in 2004 and 2005, according to a budget request submitted by the Health and Human Services
Commission. The Legislature has expanded several state-funded health care programs
so that in Fiscal Year 2003, about one of every five Texas residents, 4.2 million people, will receive state-funded health
care. Medicaid is currently serving 200,000 more people than projected, and 20,000 more children than expected are enrolled
in CHIP. Other issues that are likely to be at the forefront of the debate in
Austin are meaningful prompt-pay legislation, requiring standardized contracts between health plans and physicians, and the
insurance crisis, including medical malpractice coverage for providers. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO Doug
Hawthorne with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio
1080 KRLD.
©
2002 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 