By: Perry S.C.R. No. 24     (Klick)             SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION   WHEREAS, Millions of medically vulnerable Texans need health   care but have neither insurance nor personal funds to cover the   cost; and          WHEREAS, Texas Medicaid was created to help the medically   vulnerable, but the huge cost of the federal health care   bureaucracy reduces the ability of the program to provide in a   timely manner the services and goods mandated by the federal   government; and          WHEREAS, Funding deficiencies also cause Texas Medicaid to   fail the provider community, including individuals and   institutions, by offering less than adequate recompense for the   services and goods they supply; Medicaid reimbursement rates are   below the cost of doing business for most providers, and as a   result, more than 30 percent of Texas physicians cannot afford to   take care of Medicaid enrollees; and          WHEREAS, In recent years, the federally mandated expansion of   Medicaid benefits has caused reimbursement rates to plummet   further, even as the number of Medicaid-covered patients has risen;   consequently, wait times for appointments have lengthened   dramatically; a study conducted by Illinois Medicaid found that   delays in care for Medicaid patients had resulted in unnecessary   deaths; and          WHEREAS, Medicaid is the largest single-cost item in the   Texas state budget, accounting for 30 percent of all spending; it   consumes financial resources that are sorely needed to support   other programs, including foster care, education, job training,   border security, and infrastructure; and          WHEREAS, The original Medicaid legislation of 1965 clearly   specified that Medicaid programs would be jointly funded by state   and federal governments and administered by the states; this   framework is in keeping with the intent of the founding fathers in   that it allows states to use their superior knowledge of the needs   of their residents and how best to expend the resources necessary to   regulate, administer, and control their own programs; states are   better positioned than the federal government to innovate and   compete, and they can take advantage of the laboratory of ideas to   provide superior alternatives to existing delivery systems;   nevertheless, today, Washington, D.C., bureaucrats at the Centers   for Medicare and Medicaid Services have decision-making power over   factors that drive costs in Texas, among them eligibility   standards, verification processes, compliance oversight, and   benefit packages; although Texas has received federal approval of a   Medicaid 1115 Waiver, which grants some additional flexibility,   this does not address the root cause of problems created by the lack   of state control; and          WHEREAS, When it expanded Medicaid eligibility, the federal   government promised greater access to health care, but medically   vulnerable residents of Texas have experienced cruel   disillusionment; without real control over the administration of   its own Medicaid program, Texas cannot address the problems that   arise in the delivery of required services with limited funds, and   the state cannot properly balance its priorities and discharge its   responsibilities to its citizens; now, therefore, be it          RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas   hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to uphold the   original intent of the 1965 Medicaid law to maintain a jointly   funded, state-administered program by continuing joint funding of   Texas Medicaid under the current Federal Medical Assistance   Percentages program while transferring the administration,   control, and compliance oversight of all aspects and components of   the Texas Medicaid program from the Centers for Medicare and   Medicaid Services in Washington to the State of Texas; and, be it   further          RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official   copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to   the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of   Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the   members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that   this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a   memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.