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NEWS RELEASE
April 21, 2011
TEXAS HOUSE APPROVES KOLKHORST
HEALTH CARE COMPACT
(Austin, TX) On Thursday, House lawmakers voted to move forward with a health care compact — a partnership with other states that would ultimately transfer Medicaid and Medicare from the federal control to the state government .
If passed by the Texas Senate, House Bill 5 by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) would give Texas the ability to work directly with other states to create their own policies for administering public health programs.
The Texas House passed HB 5 by a vote of 104 to 41, on largely partisan lines.
Under an interstate health compact, states would gain control over massive health entitlement benefits from the federal government, with the idea being that states would be better able to decide how these programs are structured.
“Texans can decide for ourselves how to take care of our health needs," Kolkhorst said. "With medical costs rising faster than inflation, let's replace big government solutions with local oversight. Texas could create its own health care solutions, save billions of tax dollars, and still deliver better health outcomes."
Earlier this week, Georgia became the first state to sign a health care compact proposal into law, with the idea being that after several more states also pass a compact, the proposal would be presented to Congress for approval in 2012.
Conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Texans For Fiscal Responsibility, and the Texas Conservative Coalition have pushed for the passage of Kolkhorst's HB 5, saying the compact is about who makes decisions about health care — Washington DC or the states.
"I think Texans can better decide how to prioritize our health care than Congressmen from California, New York or Wisconsin. States are in a better position to determine our own needs than a big, one-size-fits-all federal plan," Kolkhorst said. "Health care spending crowds out funding for our schools, highways and public safety. That's why we need House Bill 5. Texans need a bigger say in how our health dollars are spent, a government closest to the people governs best."
Nearly a dozen states are considering bills to join the interstate health care compact. Originally created by the nation's Founding Fathers, the ability for states to form an interstate compact is found in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
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