Cutting Medicaid harder than issuing soundbites, senators learn

 AUSTIN — Texas budget writers are finding that cutting Medicaid is harder than it sounds.
Reducing services that states don’t have to provide for poor adults is already a part of both chambers’ initial budgets. But Senate health budget writers were warned Monday to tread carefully for fear of costing the state more in the long run. If kidney dialysis treatment is cut, Medicaid patients with renal disease would show up very ill at hospitals, said Charles Bell, deputy executive commissioner for health services at the Health and Human Services Commission.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/ekNaG9