Coronavirus in Texas 3/13: Shuttered schools can provide students' lunches, Texas courts allowed to change deadlines
Our staff is closely tracking developments on the new coronavirus in Texas. Check here for live updates. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott is briefed on the coronavirus outbreak, in Austin on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas improperly picked winners for contracts worth $10 billion, health insurers argue
More than half a dozen health plans are appealing the contract decisions for STAR+PLUS, the state's privatized insurance program for elderly, blind and disabled Texans. Full Story
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![The Brown Heatly Health and Human Services building in Austin on Nov. 29, 2017.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Tenth Talks: Texas' health commissioner talks about preparing for the next decade
Watch Dr. Courtney N. Phillips, the state’s health commissioner, talk about some of the challenges for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Phillips' speech is part of a Tribune series on the next 10 years of Texas. Full Story
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Tenth Talks: Dell Medical School's vice dean talks about fixing health care
Watch Mini Kahlon, the vice dean of the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School, talk about an opportunity for radical change when it comes to health care. Kahlon's speech is part of a Tribune series on the next 10 years of Texas. Full Story
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Nonprofits claim Texas broke the law by leaving them out of Medicaid contracts
The Houston region’s Community Health Choice and San Antonio’s Community First Health plans are suing the state, saying the law promises them a piece of roughly $10 billion in Medicaid contracts. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas doubled funding for an anti-abortion program. Now lawmakers want to award the money without competitive bidding.
The Texas Pregnancy Care Network, the largest recipient of funding under the state's controversial Alternatives to Abortion program, is poised to receive millions more under the proposal. Full Story
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![Austin Life Care in Austin, Texas July 18, 2019]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Texas Senate advances bill requiring pre-abortion counseling
Supporters say the measure would prevent women from regretting an abortion after they have the procedure. But abortion rights advocates fear the bill lacks key protections, like a requirement for the counselor to be a licensed medical professional. Full Story
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![Action on Friday at the second day of the Texas Republican Convention in San Antonio as Senate candidate Angela Paxton waves to the crowd. June 15, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas removes thousands of children from Medicaid each month due to red tape, records show
Most states check once a year whether children on Medicaid still qualify for the program. Texas checks more often, using an automated system that critics say leads to kids losing coverage even though they're still eligible. Full Story
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![Yesenia Alvarado holds her daughter, Medicaid patient Melanie Almaraz, 2, while waiting to see Dr. Alberto Vasquez for treatment of a fever at Su Clinica Familiar in Harlingen, Texas on Jul. 9, 2013.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
More than 4,900 migrant kids are living in Texas shelters, but that number is dropping
As of July 18, Texas’ 35 state-licensed shelters had permission to accommodate up to 6,286 children, according to the state health commission. With 4,937 kids living in them, that means they’re at 78% capacity. Full Story
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![The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs, whose headquarters is in Austin, is housing nearly half the undocumented immigrant kids in federal custody.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
Texans are waiting for birth and death certificates amid health agency understaffing
The backlog — exacerbated by the state's switch in January to a new computer system for processing records — comes as the short-staffed Texas Department of State Health Services vies for a boost in funding. Meanwhile, families anxiously wait. Full Story
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![Jennifer Lambrecht holds a portrait of her deceased grandmother, Gerda Hughes, on Feb. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
A federal safety net funds health care for uninsured Texans. Time is running short to negotiate its renewal.
A federal program known as the 1115 waiver helps pay for the costs of providing health care to the uninsured. Advocates want the Texas Legislature to order a renegotiation of the waiver, which partially expires in 2021. Full Story
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![Kristal Macaluso, phlebotomist at Western Hills Clinic, reorganized medical supplies, Monday March 11, 2019. The clinic is a part of Tarrant County MHMR and serves low income clients with behavioral health and substance abuse needs.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Nearly 200 people in Texas detention facilities have contracted mumps
The Texas Department of State Health Services says 186 people, including immigrants and detention center employees, were confirmed with cases of mumps since October. Full Story
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![A measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.]()
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Voters in four states have approved Medicaid expansion by ballot. Will Texas do the same?
Idaho, Maine, Nebraska and Utah voters approved Medicaid expansion through ballot initiatives. Now Texas legislators have filed bills for a vote over whether the state should expand coverage for the joint federal-state health insurance program. Full Story
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Medicaid, opioids and abortion: Health care issues to expect this Texas legislative session
Amid uncertainty about the federal health law, state legislators will tackle a variety of issues during the session, from abortion to mental health to opioids to funding for Medicaid. Full Story
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Retirement and low pay caused Texas agencies to lose nearly 29,000 employees last year
Advocates for state workers are calling for increased pay after a State Auditor’s Office report released in December found that agency turnover was at 19.3 percent in the 2018 budget year. The top reasons employees said they left were retirement, better pay and benefits and poor working conditions. Full Story
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Former Texas HHSC executive commissioner named acting director for Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services
Chris Traylor's new position comes after joining the federal government in July as deputy administrator for strategic initiatives at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Full Story
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![Chris Traylor, acting director of the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 22, 2012.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Anti-vaccine Texas families may take their fight to day cares next
A leading anti-vaccine group claims that day cares are breaking the law by denying kids who haven't been vaccinated. Experts say the group is misinterpreting the law. Full Story
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State cancels health contracts with anti-abortion Heidi Group
Texas Health and Human Services Commission officials said in an email that “it has become clear that the Heidi Group is unable to come into compliance” and that the organization would no longer be part of the state’s Family Planning Program or the Healthy Texas Women program as of Dec. 11. Full Story
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Abbott taps Nebraska official to lead Health and Human Services Commission
Courtney Phillips currently leads the Department of Health and Human Services in Nebraska. Full Story
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![Courtney Phillips, Gov. Greg Abbott's newly named pick to head the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.]()
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TribCast: Slow family reunifications, Cruz-O'Rourke TV ads
On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Ross, Marissa and Emma about moldy, rat-infested state office buildings, family reunifications at the border, TV ads in the U.S. Senate race and a Republican state lawmaker's tough words for the Texas governor. Full Story
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![Border Patrol agents apprehend asylum seekers shortly after they crossed the Rio Grande River.]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune