Patrick’s goals take aim at refugees
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick continued rolling out his interim charges for various Senate committees with a welcome focus on health and human services, including foster care children, aging Texans and people struggling with mental illness. Charges also include a monitoring charge to test reforms to Child Protective Services and initiatives to reduce Medicaid fraud.
Those all will help improve the lives of Texans and the entities that serve them. But I found one rather dubious: Patrick is calling for a study of the impact to the state of the increasing number of refugees relocating to Texas, including the range of health and human services provided. If it stopped there, that would not raise concerns. But it goes on to direct the committee to “examine the authority of the state to reduce its burden under the (federal) Refugee Resettlement Program, and any state-funded services.”
That no doubt is directed at the tens of thousands of women, children and others who are fleeing gang violence in Central America and showing up at the Texas-Mexico border, where they are turning themselves over to U.S. border officials. Many are detained in Texas as they seek refugee status in the courts, while others join family members already living in Texas and elsewhere.
If reducing the state’s burden refers to denying affordable health care to people whose immigration status is unsettled, that would be unwise. Texas leaders must know that illness and disease don’t respect geographic boundaries or a person’s immigration status. Given that, they should be careful in their work to unburden the state, lest that lead to unintended consequences for all Texans.
If they need some guidance on that front, start by answering some obvious questions: How does it serve the community if an immigrant child or adult who comes down with measles while on Texas soil is denied medical treatment, turned away from a clinic or doesn’t get treatment because they don’t have money to pay for such services? And how does it affect taxpayers when they seek more expensive treatment in hospital emergency rooms instead of community clinics or doctors’ offices?
Unsurprisingly, at the top of Patrick’s list regarding Health and Human Services is a charge “to protect the unborn,” which directs the committee to “examine and make recommendations on the use of fetal tissue for research purposes and how related laws governing abortion procedures are interpreted and enforced.”
If that was meant as a shot to Planned Parenthood’s state and federal funding, then the first bullet has already been fired by Texas Health and Human Services Inspector General Stuart Bowen Jr.
He didn’t wait for Patrick’s charge or any legislative study. This week, he sent Planned Parenthood a letter stating that it was being dropped in Texas as a Medicaid health care provider. That claim largely was based on a video that already has been discredited. And consider that Planned Parenthood has already nixed the controversial fetal tissue program. But what the heck? In the eyes of too many Republicans, the facts are irrelevant when it comes to Planned Parenthood.
A very welcome — and needed — charge that Patrick issued centers on reducing recurrence of child abuse and neglect. It addresses high acuity needs of foster care children and strengthens the state’s adoption process to improve the long-term success of adoption placements. Patrick also is calling for a review of how foster care children exit the system and recommendations to smooth transitions for those who age out of foster care.
It’s a good time to note an organization that is in the forefront of advocating for Texas children. The nonprofit Texans Care for Children has put together some meaningful strategies for improving the state’s foster care system. The nonprofit points out that up to 37 percent of youth who are aging out of foster care are experiencing homelessness. Also, the obesity rate for foster children is much higher than for other children. Those are problems within the reach of lawmakers to fix — if they have the will.
Also relevant is the charge Patrick issued to study and make recommendations for best practices to promote healthy aging for Texans and reduce chronic medical and behavioral health conditions. The charge also calls for improving quality and oversight in long-term care settings, including nursing homes.
For a full list of all charges for health and human services and transportation, go to bit.ly/1jmeW9Z.