Governor Rick Perry has added legislation on the "regulation of abortion procedures, providers and facilities" to the special session. The laws proposed would severely limit health care access for Texas families. Hearings on the legislation start today in the Texas Legislature.Read More >>
David Dewhurst and Texas Republican lawmakers hosted a press conference Tuesday morning touting Steve Hotze, a Houston-area "doctor" who is suing to stop the Affordable Care Act being implemented in Texas. Hotze's rather insane beliefs include the idea that a woman must get permission from a man to work outside the home.Read More >>
Progress Texas, in coordination with Texas Well & Healthy, has compiled a list of 80 major organizations, chambers of commerce, and local and county governments that have stated their support for expanding Medicaid in Texas. Check out the full list here and get the latest on the momentum...Read More >>
UPDATE - the amendment was withdrawn. ORIGINAL - State Representative Lon Burnam passed an amendment onto the budget that provides guidance for how the state could pursue Medicaid expansion. The amendment was passed with the help of Rep. John Zerwas (R).Read More >>
Two weeks ago, HB 5 passed after 150+ amendments were filed and debated on the House floor. Rep. Chris Turner's sex-ed amendment addresses the staggering teen pregnancy rates in Texas; however, his efforts went widely unnoticed.Read More >>
This morning, volunteers with Progress Texas and the Texas Organizing Project rallied outside Governor Perry's office demanding he expand Medicaid in Texas to cover hard working Texans. Perry hosted a 10 minute long "roundtable" discussion - where no members of the public were invited.Read More >>
Representative Jodie Laudenberg filed the first (of probably many) "fetal pain" bills entitled HB 2374. As we are all aware, Gov. Perry started his crusade against abortion rights by publicly supporting all "fetal pain" bills despite their medical inaccuracies.Read More >>
In recent weeks, Republican governors in New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio and Michigan have all ended their partisan opposition to Medicaid expansion - a key provision in President Obama's historic Affordable Care Act legislation. Can Texas be next? Absolutely, but we need your support and action to make it possible.Read More >>
Perhaps the GOP forgot, but Native American women are Americans too. They blocked the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act because of control given to tribal authorities in prosecuting non-Native American offenders. Read More >>
Have you ever wondered where and how you can learn more about the issues in the Texas Legislature? Not just what the major ones are - but the details behind them, and how you can get involved? This post is a starting point - places you can dig deeper and learn more about the major issues facing Texas.Read More >>
Just when you think Texas Governor Rick Perry has sunk to new lows, he opens up his mouth again. This time, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Perry said that a chief purpose of the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas isn't just to cure cancer - but to create wealth. Read More >>
The CPRIT scandal continues to impact the state of Texas, as Governor Perry - who initially called those who challenged the integrity of the agency as "conspiracy theorists" - has now halted all grants issued by the organization. On December 20, it was the House Appropriations Committee's turn to look into what CPRIT has done.Read More >>
The battle over Travis County’s Proposition 1, which would help to support a new medical center in Austin, has become fierce. Here, we lay out why voting yes for Proposition 1 is a good thing for Austin and Texas.Read More >>
In Austin, TX, an effort to keep Austin families healthy is under fire from St. David's Healthcare, the second-largest hospital system in Central Texas. St. David's is partly owned by Bain Capital LLC, and recently came under scrutiny from the Austin American-Statesman for questionable emergency room billing.Read More >>
Expanding Medicaid in Texas through the Affordable Care Act is a no-brainer, which is why it's such a tough decision for Rick Perry. This should help: a new economic analysis by the Perryman Group shows that expanding Medicaid in Texas would create an economic windfall for our state.Read More >>
Governor Perry has persisted in his ideological determination to make enactment of the Affordable Care Act as difficult as possible. But Perry’s word is not the last one on Medicaid expansion -- according to a recent Washington Post article, several larger counties have started discussing the idea of accepting the federal funds on their own.Read More >>
Although the TX GOP have not proven capable of the fair-minded assessments that give credit where credit is due, supporters of health care reform may rest confident in the knowledge that Texans have already profited from their efforts. According to this infographic, courtesy of Allmand Law, the Affordable Care Act has served millions by lifting lifetime limits on insurance and by permitting young adults to stay on their parents’ policies. Read More >>
Former state Sen. Kyle Janek has been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to head the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. However, his connections to ALEC, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the Health Care Compact Alliance suggests that he will be no friend to Texas’ most vulnerable populations. Read More >>
Now that Rick Perry is surrendering state control of Health Insurance Exchanges to the federal government, it’s important for Texans to know more about how these exchanges will work. Our policy briefing explains how the resulting boost in standards and an increase in competition will help residents identify and purchase quality coverage...Read More >>
With the rise in weight-loss surgeries matching the rapidly growing waistbands of Texans, lawmakers are now pouring tax dollars into funding bariatric surgeries for obese citizens. In a matter of only a few years, Medicare spending for weight-loss surgery has increased by 400% and annual Medicaid spending has gone up more than nine-fold. As obesity continues to rise, state-funded weight-loss programs further drain taxpayers' dollars without truly addressing the obesity epidemic in Texas head-on.Read More >>
Yesterday's health care ruling brought excitement to people across Texas. In Austin, we helped organize a rally on the Capitol steps with the folks at Texas Well & Healthy. At least 150 people came out to celebrate the decision. The video also features interviews with Texans who will benefit from keeping the Affordable Care Act in place. If you pay close attention, you'll hear some of the great chants we came up with in support of health care!Read More >>
The Affordable Care Act has been preserved! The Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act in a landmark decision. Since March 23, 2010 when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, conservatives in Texas have spent so much time creating legislation in hopes the Affordable Care Act would not be upheld that they have left our state unprepared. Tell Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Jane Nelson, and Rep. Lois Kolkhorst that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay and it's time to get to work.Read More >>
Over the last 10 years, Texas conservatives have cast at least 50 record votes against women's health care. Original research by Progress Texas shows that the more Republicans elected to the Texas House of Representative, the more record votes there are that attack women's health care. Research shows that 2003 and 2011 were the years when women's health was decimated the most, while in 2007 and 2009 - when there was balanced partisanship in the Texas House - most all the anti-woman's legislation was kept in the background.Read More >>
Texas is waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act with bated breath, because Texas politicians have been dragging their feet in passing legislation compatible with the Affordable Care Act. The state is fundamentally unprepared if the Supreme Court decides to uphold the ACA. Due to our huge poor population and the individual mandate, millions of people in Texas would be added to Medicaid.
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