US to pay Katrina evacuees’ healthcare in Texas
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The U.S. government will pick up the full cost of providing healthcare to Hurricane Katrina evacuees who enroll in the Texas Medicaid program, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said on Thursday.
Texas has taken in as many as 400,000 people who fled the three states stricken by the storm.
Just one week ago, Gov. Rick Perry warned that the federal government had indicated that Texas would be asked to pay the entire cost of providing Medicaid for these refugees.
Earlier this week, Hutchison filed legislation that would require the federal government to reimburse Texas fully for providing Medicaid for the evacuees.
The states and federal government share the cost of Medicaid, which also provides health insurance for the elderly.
Hutchison, a Republican, said Mark McClellan, who runs the federal Medicaid program, informed her on Wednesday of his decision to waive the state’s match for five months.
The amount of federal dollars each state must match varies.
“Texas has about a 40 percent match, so that would just have been millions upon millions of dollars,” said Chris Paulitz, a spokesman for the senator.
Hutchison also has filed legislation asking the federal government to cover more of the costs of providing the evacuees with shelter and enrolling their children in public schools.
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