Highlights of Judge’s Ruling on Medicaid for Texas Children
Here are the main points of a federal judge’s ruling that Texas has failed to adequately care for children in its Medicaid program:
* The state is not providing adequate dental care. About 1 million children never saw a dentist last year, partly because reimbursements to dentists are too low.
* Children’s checkups in the Medicaid managed care system were inadequate, taking 12 to 20 minutes when a thorough exam would take an hour.
* Fewer than 10% had received proper immunizations.
* Families were not provided transportation to medical services, had difficulty getting vouchers or were not reimbursed for transportation for months.
* Families were not informed about the services available to children in Medicaid, even when they asked. People who called a toll-free number often had to wait and then found staff unhelpful or lacking information.
* The state failed to address the needs of 13,200 abused and neglected children under state supervision.
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