Texans should be worried about the proposed health care “reform” bill, especially the proposal to dismantle federal requirements for Medicaid coverage. Currently Texas covers only those required by federal law, even refusing Medicaid expansion under Obama Care when the federal government is picking up at least 90% of the cost. I’ve seen firsthand the incredible cruelty of the Texas approach.
Last fall I agreed to help a young man from Gainesville with the paperwork to get Social Security disability, the only avenue for him to get medical treatment under Texas rules. I knew he had skin cancer but had no idea how far it had advanced. When he came to my office a bandana covered the lower half of his face, but as we began the interview it fell. I admit that I had to look away to suppress the gag reflex. Cancer had eaten away the lower half of his face, exposing teeth, bone and tissue, and pus oozed from open sores. Proceeding with a disability claim was obviously a waste of time; he was unlikely to see the first check, much less any medical treatment. He had difficulty speaking and was obviously embarrassed by the sudden shock he had caused—he passed me a heartbreaking note, “Please find someone to stop the cancer.”
Suppressing the tears and shame for my revulsion, I spent the next hour or so on the phone trying to find help, but hitting brick walls: the Gainesville hospital doesn’t treat cancer, the American Cancer Society only funds research, charity hospitals in Dallas and Fort Worth only cover their residents, etc. Finally, a sympathetic administrative assistant said what I had hoped to hear, “Just take him to the emergency room at John Peter Smith Hospital.” He was admitted that night, but despite the staff’s heroic efforts he died within a few weeks.
I asked the hospital’s social worker when a skin cancer sufferer would qualify for disability and thus be entitled to medical care. “When they are dying,” she said, adding that they dealt with such tragedies on a daily basis.
If Texas had accepted Medicaid expansion, he and countless others like him would have lived. So much for Texas being a “pro-life” state.
Now Congress wants to give Texas the chance to exclude even the disabled, the elderly, pregnant women, and children. If you believe our state just couldn’t be that cruel, please think of my friend who suffered and died because he lived in a state that has no heart.
