A Texas House priority bill — one for which the lower chamber was left wanting last session — to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage in the state to one year passed by a large margin on second reading, the first of two floor votes it needs before moving to the Senate.
House Bill (HB) 12 by Rep. Toni Rose (D-Dallas) extends the health care coverage under the federal Medicaid program for pregnant women who give birth or have a miscarriage to 12 months. The bill passed the lower chamber with a vote of 125 to 11 with 13 absences; every Nay and absence was a Republican.
24 Republicans signed onto the bill as coauthors.
Even Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), who normally declines to cast a vote on bills before the body, registered as an Aye, showing how much the chamber’s top official backs the issue.
Current state law sets the period for Medicaid-eligible pregnant women at six months, a line set at or below 203 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or new mothers and 207 percent of the FPL for pregnant women — the FPL is set at $14,580 annual income for ...
