Federal officials have given Texas an extension of a special flow of Medicaid dollars to help hospitals treat uninsured patients, according to a Dallas Morning News report.
President Barack Obama's administration granted the 15-month Medicaid waiver extension Monday.
The waiver allows for the state to study whether some of the money is paying for emergency room care of adults who could have had Medicaid coverage if Texas had expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Ted Shaw, who as head of the Texas Hospital Association lobbies for about 450 hospitals in the state, praised the Medicaid waiver extension, saying ending the waiver "would have resulted in near catastrophic consequences for the state's most vulnerable populations," according to the Dallas Morning News.
About $1 billion of federal "uncompensated care pool" money distributed annually to dozens of Texas hospitals was at risk of being cancelled.
The waiver, which was set to expire Sept. 30, also funnels about $3.1 billion annually in mostly federal money to local coalitions of hospitals and other health providers who have launched innovative care projects aimed at improving the health of poor Texans who are uninsured, according to the report.
Under Texas' deal with federal officials, the state has until the end of 2017 to satisfy federal officials that the pool money isn't being used in ways that duplicate what's offered under the ACA's Medicaid expansion.
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