The 83rd Texas Legislature, which convened this week, has no intention of supporting a healthcare exchange or providing an alternative, even though uninsured Texans are expected to be penalized at the beginning of next year. The President’s Affordable Care Act, also called "Obamacare", mandates everyone be insured by January 1st, 2014.
However, the current Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance, Representative John Smithee of Amarillo, says he expects a collision between the state and federal governments at that time.
Governor Rick Perry has already refused to set up an insurance exchange and Smithee says the Legislature is intending to come up with a plan that will insure the millions who are expected to fall under the Federal mandate.
He says, "I think the federal government would give us more time to do it if we were inclined to set up an exchange, but Governor Perry says that’s not going to happen. The will of the Legislature is not to go to the exchange and the reason is expense."
Smithee says it would cost tens of billions of dollars to expand Medicaid and set up exchanges as the Act requires
Local doctors, however, are using the Affordable Care Act to set up Accountable Care Organizations that previously were not allowed because of collusion and anti-trust fears. Doctors within the group will be communicating faster between themselves in the treatment of medicare patients.
