The latest Health And Human Services Commission news from The Texas Tribune.
A Victoria hospital already embroiled in a racial discrimination lawsuit has instituted a highly unusual hiring policy: It bans job applicants from employment for being too overweight. Full Story
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It took years of bipartisan efforts for the Women's Health Program to even begin. Today, it is the subject of a bitter political divide. No one should be surprised. Full Story
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U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison appeared on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown to defend Planned Parenthood and urge Gov. Rick Perry to re-consider federal funding for the Women's Health Program. Full Story
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Child Protective Services officials got an earful on Wednesday at a Senate hearing on improving the caseworker retention rates in rural communities. And they got a minor scolding from Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville. Full Story
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Will the Planned Parenthood brouhaha affect elections? Should state officeholders be able to collect retirement while they're still on the job? And should Texas lawmakers have term limits? Full Story
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"We're having to spend a lot of money and time protecting our right to make sovereign decisions from this administration," Perry said during a Fox News interview. Full Story
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A state rule that forces Planned Parenthood out of Texas' Women's Health Program takes effect today. But the transition will take a few weeks. Full Story
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This Storify timeline looks at how the controversy over the Texas Women's Health Program has unfolded. Full Story
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After the state reduced its share of co-payments for Texans who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, doctors who treat such patients are seeing revenue disruptions. Full Story
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As Planned Parenthood travels the state by bus to defend its Women's Health Program funding, anti-abortion advocates gathered in Austin to blast the organization. Full Story
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For the state's social conservatives, forgoing family planning funding is a small price to pay to send a powerful message: They want Planned Parenthood out of Texas. Full Story
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A crowd gathered Friday at the Planned Parenthood Health Center in Austin to express concerns over the expected demise of the Women's Health Program. Full Story
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Lawmakers have approved carving prescription drugs into Medicaid managed care to save Texas money — an estimated $100 million over the next biennium. But pharmacists worry lower reimbursement rates will drive them under. Full Story
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A joint interim committee is charging ahead in the state's effort to persuade the federal government to give it more flexibility to run its Medicaid program. Full Story
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The Legislature's ranking public health leaders praise the success of the Women's Health Program. But they won't let Planned Parenthood participate in order to save the program from extinction. Full Story
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Texas may be challenging federal health care reform in court, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, state lawmakers are still monitoring how the law will affect costs and care in Texas. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers met on Monday to address a pressing problem: the possibility the state will really have to implement federal health care reforms. Full Story
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There is no consensus on the benefits of managed health care in the Rio Grande Valley, which had been the subject of a moratorium in three Valley counties. Full Story
On Friday, a student-organized rally on the University of Texas at Austin campus applauded reforms intended to increase access to birth control for women. Counterprotesters responded with their own anti-birth control message. Full Story
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The Trib's Thanh Tan talks to Editor Emily Ramshaw about the ongoing battle over women's health in Texas. Full Story
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