May 19, 2016 6:29 PM

Despite prominent position with TMA, Buckingham uses TMA-backed bill to blast King as pro-Obamacare

The 2013 bill would have allowed the Republican HHSC Commissioner to negotiate with Washington; Buckingham was on TMA’s Council on Legislation at the time

In the particularly nasty GOP Texas Senate runoff for the seat being vacated by Sen. Troy Fraser, one thing seemed to be agreed to by both sides: The powerful Texas Medical Association – and to a large extent health care issues – would not be included in lines of attack.

That’s because one candidate, Rep. Susan King, is married to a past president of the group and the other, Dr. Dawn Buckingham, is a doctor and prominent member. With election day drawing near, it would seem that unspoken agreement is now broken.

Buckingham’s campaign is now blasting Rep. King for supporting a bill in 2013 that would have allowed then-HHSC Commissioner Kyle Janek to negotiate with the feds to try to come up with an alternative to the sweeping health care reform passed under President Obama.

There was no comment about this from the Texas Medical Association on Thursday. The group has endorsed both candidates in this race.

By Scott Braddock