May 19, 2017      11:28 AM
Senate Finance debates actual cost of Medicaid to supplemental budget
LBB is pressed by West: “This is not the first time we’ve had this exercise…Historically, which numbers have been more accurate, LBB numbers or agency numbers?”
The actual validated up-to-date cost of Medicaid
continues to be the ever-elusive unicorn of the Texas legislative session, a
number many reference but few seem ready to verify.
Yesterday, Senate Finance subbed
out the House supplemental budget bill for its own, explained in this infographic,
and took a unanimous vote to move the bill forward, if only for the purposes of
further budget negotiations. The Senate bill picks up about $1 billion in
outstanding bills from the current session, not the least of which is Medicaid,
at $794 million.
By Kimberly Reeves
|