DALLAS — Congressman Lloyd Doggett said the pandemic has shown that the real leaders making the real decisions affecting our lives are at the local level. So it makes sense to him to allow local leaders to apply directly to the federal government for Medicaid funding, effectively expanding Medicaid in their cities or counties.
“It’s being designed as a very pragmatic, homegrown approach to let local leaders who are willing to provide for their neighbors the state has failed for over a decade,” the Democrat said of his bill on Inside Texas Politics.
Known as the “COVER Now Act,” Doggett’s bill has more than 40 cosponsors.
Texas has the largest number of uninsured residents in the entire country, with more than five million lacking any kind of coverage. That’s just under 20% of the state’s population. Health experts say that number has likely grown since the pandemic.
Yet Texas is one of a dozen states that has yet to expand Medicaid. There was even an expansion bill in this past legislative session that had seven Republican co-sponsors. But the legislation went nowhere. Rep. Doggett is hoping for buy-in from more Texas Republicans on his bill.
“I’m trying to present it as something other than a confrontation, but as an alternative. And I hope they will recognize that there are incentives in the bill for the state to get additional expenses to cover their participation and cooperation with the localities,” Doggett said.
If that’s the carrot portion of the bill, there is also the stick. The congressman said there would also be disincentives if the state were to try to interfere, primarily cutting the amount of administrative dollars for Medicaid the state would have received from the federal government.
Doggett admits one of the limitations of his bill is that it would not immediately cover everyone.
“It covers only those who have effective local leaders who want to provide for the healthcare of their neighbors. But I think it will be an incentive for those other areas as they see how well it can work,” he said.
In terms of state voting legislation and the Gov. Greg Abbott's call for a special session to begin on July 8, Doggett said Democrats need to keep public attention on the issue. He said their walkout that prevented the legislation from being passed at the end of the regular session has already had an impact.
“After the legislative session, suddenly some of the Republicans decided, oh, we didn’t really mean it that you could buy a beer at 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, but you couldn’t vote. We didn’t mean some of the other provisions in this. Didn’t know what was in there. It was an accident. Some other excuse,” he said.
Another big, controversial issue that will be taken up this year is redistricting. Doggett said the process will be under near total Republican control, so he has to be ready to run wherever they draw the lines. He doesn’t expect changes to be good or beneficial.
“My community was divided into five pieces in the last redistricting and left Austin as the largest city in America that doesn’t have a majority of its population in one congressional district," Doggett said. "That needs to end.”