UPDATED: The Texas Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would require a foster child's guardian to give informed consent before that child could be put on psychotropic drugs. The Senate will now conference with the House on a final agreement. Full Story
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Graphic by Felipe Hadler / Adam Ciesielski / Todd Wiseman
In the waning days of budget negotiations, medical providers are pushing lawmakers to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates that were chopped two years ago. Full Story
State Rep. John Zerwas, a budget conferee, said Monday he’s relatively confident that a rider stipulating the Legislature's preferred Medicaid reform terms for any deal with the federal government would stick to the 2014-15 budget. Full Story
The Texas Legislature has gotten into the habit this session of reversing its votes, raising concerns over how well lawmakers understand the hundreds of bills they're voting on. Full Story
UPDATED: The Health and Human Services Commission received approval on Wednesday to raise the Medicaid premiums that go to managed care companies. Full Story
At the Trib's April 25 symposium on higher education at the University of Texas at Austin, state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and John Zerwas, R-Simonton, talked about Medicaid, mental health and more. Full Story
Texas’ executive health commissioner, Kyle Janek, said Thursday that negotiations between the federal government and the Health and Human Services Commission on whether to expand Medicaid are at a standstill because he's waiting on the Legislature. Full Story
Despite opposition from conservative Republicans, the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday advanced a proposal that would reform Medicaid by allowing the state to request a block grant from the federal government and expand coverage to low-income Texans. Full Story
The House on Monday sent five members to negotiate a budget with the Senate, with instructions to avoid anything that looks like it would expand the state's Medicaid program. Full Story
Aaronson tracks the latest on Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on lawmakers’ openness to driving permits for non-citizens, Batheja on surprising support for higher state spending, Root and Galbraith on the state’s search for answers after the West explosion, M. Smith covers the debate over high school standards, Grissom finds a shadow payroll at the Capitol, Hamilton on the man with a plan at UT, Rocha spots a special deal for lawmakers accused of crimes, KUT’s Philpott on obstacles to road funding and Ramshaw on the privileges of legislative membership: The best of our best for the week of April 15-19, 2013. Full Story
Amid hours of testimony from advocates in support of Medicaid expansion on Tuesday, state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, described his proposal for an alternative program to provide health coverage for the poor and uninsured. Full Story
Despite Gov. Rick Perry remaining strongly opposed to expanding Medicaid, a House panel on Tuesday considered legislation that would expand coverage to poor adults under the Affordable Care Act. Full Story
On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: A guide to the week ahead in the Legislature, which is set to debate bills on guns in schools and the Texas Ethics Commission. Full Story
Republican legislators who want to use federal Medicaid expansion dollars are struggling to find common ground between the Perry administration in Texas and the Obama administration in Washington. But they're trying. Full Story
If the state government's resistance to expanding Medicaid sounds familiar, it's because something like this happened when George W. Bush was governor, and conservatives were wary of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Full Story
UPDATED: Hours after quietly approving a budget amendment on Thursday that would have opened the door to negotiations on expanding Medicaid, the House reconsidered the measure, prompting the author to withdraw it. Full Story
On today's Agenda Texas from KUT News and The Texas Tribune: A look at what's ahead for the House and Senate in the last eight weeks of the legislative session, along with an update on the debate over Medicaid expansion. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry and other top GOP leaders said Medicaid is broken, and adding more Texans to the program would bankrupt the state. Expansion advocates said it would reduce the state's uninsured population, largely on the federal dime. Full Story
In their quest to woo minority voters, Republican leaders are missing something important: Most of those voters won't buy the party's anti-government message. Full Story