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The latest health care news from The Texas Tribune.

  • State Keeps Registry of Kids Who Abuse Kids

    By Emily Ramshaw

    “Dear future son,” the North Texas father wrote in a prospective adoption letter. “I am a single dad who adopted a middle school boy in 2008. Now we are looking for one more kid so he will have a brother.” Instead, the father got shocking news: He would not be allowed to adopt again because his son is on a state registry of people who abuse children. Full Story 

    James and his adoptive son wait to board the DART train in Dallas on January 30, 2011. The son, who is 15, is on a state registry of people who abuse children.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Texas Won't Secede — But It Won't Shut Up Either

    By Ross Ramsey

    Texas leaders aren't talking about secession, after an outbreak of conversation a couple of years ago. But the germ of the idea remains in the anti-federalist talking points that fueled Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign last year and provided the outline for his book, Fed Up! Full Story 

    A coalition of Tea Party groups rally against President Obama on Jan. 16, 2009, at the Texas Capitol.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Are Payment Reform, Texas Budget In Conflict?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Lawmakers are crafting legislation to make health care more affordable and effective by rewarding doctors who get the best medical outcomes. But the cuts they're proposing to meet the state's budget shortfall could hinder some of the same physicians they're relying on to implement payment reform. Full Story 

    Odiel Rodriguez, a physician assistant, checks a patient's file at Ashley Pediatrics Day and Night Clinic in Pharr. Family practitioners fear what budget cuts will mean for the funding that keeps them in business.
    Credit: Callie Richmond

  • David Dewhurst: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The lieutenant governor believes he knows how to save Texas money and improve patient care by overhauling how doctors and hospitals are paid: with carrots, not sticks. In an interview with the Tribune, he talks about what he sees as the root of the health care crisis, and his proposed solutions. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Suehs Warns Lawmakers On Health Cuts

    By Becca Aaronson

    Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs pulled no punches when he warned Senate lawmakers today what proposed budget cuts will mean: either cutting the number of people served, or the money paid to those who care for them. Full Story 

    HHSC Commissioner Tom Suehs testifies before lawmakers.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Medicaid Cuts Worry Texas Nursing Homes

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Texas agencies facing the budget ax say the only thing left to cut are the services they fund. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on fears that many of the state's nursing homes could be forced to dramatically cut back or even close as a result. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Health Reform Roulette

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Even as Texas pursues a lawsuit attacking federal health care reform, some state officials are reluctantly laying the groundwork to implement parts of the law. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Red Meat, Fast Track

    By Ross Ramsey

    Abortion politics is back on center stage, with Gov. Rick Perry putting it, voter photo ID, state support for a balanced federal budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, eminent domain and a ban on sanctuary cities at the top of his list of priorities. Why? Full Story 

    Gov. Rick Perry as the keynote speaker at The Annual Texas Rally for Life at the Capitol on January 22, 2011.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Grissom on what happens — and doesn't — when police don't analyze evidence taken from rape victims, Dehn with video highlights of the Senate debate over photo voter ID, Aguilar on the more than three dozen immigration-related bills waiting for attention in the Legislature, M. Smith on what to do with empty school buildings, Ramshaw on what will happen to hospitals if Medicaid managed care is expanded, C. Smith on how the state's budget cuts could affect churches and other faith-based organizations, Philpott's report for the Trib and KUT News on how the tight state budget could affect mental health care, yours truly on why the initial budget proposal isn't really a plan for state spending, Stiles with a searchable database of the latest campaign finance reports, and Galbraith on the rising use of coal and wind to generate electricity in Texas: The best of our best from January 24 to 28, 2011. Full Story 

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  • John Zerwas: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The state representative and anesthesiologist from Simonton on why he filed the House's first bill to implement a key piece of federal health-care reform and was the first in his party to openly suggest that dropping out of Medicaid wasn't such a great idea after all. Full Story 

    State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton
    Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera