1.8 million Texans could lose current health insurance provider if state lawmakers don't act
More than 125,000 North Texas families could soon lose their current health insurance provider if state lawmakers don't act.
In March 2024, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced plans to drop the Cook Children's nonprofit Health Plan, along with Texas Children's and Driscoll Children's plans, and award Medicaid contracts to several national, for-profit insurance companies instead.
CBS News Texas
"Why would the state take contracts away from Texas-based companies and give them to national companies, where those profits and earnings are going to go outside the state of Texas?" said Karen Love, president of the Cook Children's Health Plan. "We need to keep those here in the state of Texas so that people like us can continue to make investments in the health of our community."
Cook Children's is working with state lawmakers on bills that would reinstate the children's hospital plans across the state and make changes to the process moving forward. However, the clock is ticking with just four weeks left in this legislative session.
"The legislature has made their will known in the past," Love said. "They just need to make their will known in this case."
If lawmakers don't act, Cook Children's says 1.8 million children and pregnant women across Texas would be forced to change health insurance plans. That includes 125,000 North Texas children who are currently on the Cook Children's Health Plan.
"I feel like removing this plan punishes families who already have to navigate a life that's hard," said Liz Pinon, whose children are on the Cook Children's Health Plan. "My kids would probably be okay, but there's so many kids out there that will not be okay. So many families that will get hurt for this."
Pinon's triplets have been patients at Cook Children's Medical Center since they were babies, and all have complex medical needs.
"My daughter is in a wheelchair," Pinon said. "My son has a feeding tube. They have mental health issues."
She says juggling all their appointments and care has been easier since moving to the Cook Children's Health Plan about seven years ago. The pediatric healthcare system has managed Medicaid coverage for medically fragile children, low-income families, and pregnant women for more than 20 years.
"The Cook Children's Health Plan has given us the tools so that my kids are not just surviving, they're thriving and living a healthy life," said Pinon.
In the final weeks of the legislative session, she hopes lawmakers think about her family and the thousands of others who would be left scrambling if the Medicaid contracts go to out-of-state, for-profit corporations.
"These are families who may be working two to three jobs to cover the rent and groceries and, you know, childcare and all of those things," Love said. "To have to worry about finding and picking a different plan, getting to know a new service coordinator, potentially having to change providers… That's just a level of disruption that's not necessary for these families when they have made their choice clear."
If state lawmakers don't pass a legislative solution to address this, Cook Children's will continue its legal battle against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The hospital won a temporary injunction against the agency last fall. A trial has been set for November.
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