Texas Attorney General Sues Biden Administration Over Medicaid Waiver

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s latest frivolous lawsuit is directed at the Biden administration. 

Paxton’s lawsuit demands the federal government reinstate the 1115 Medicaid waiver, an agreement that provided billions of dollars to the state to help Texans receive care while preserving hospital funding. The agreement reimbursed hospitals for the “uncompensated care” they provided to patients without health insurance and pay for new health care projects.

The agreement, which was granted during the Trump administration was supposed to last at least until September 2030, but current Medicaid officials said that Trump era administrators didn’t follow federal rulemaking processes to grant the waiver. Paxton is now saying that overturning the waiver was nothing more than a political move aimed at forcing the state of Texas to expand the Medicaid program.

“This would be a disaster for our state, and yet President Biden seems intent on thrusting his bloated model of government on everyone — including Texas,” Paxton said in a statement last Friday.

It’s worth noting that Biden did try to incentivize Texas and other states to expand Medicaid eligibility by offering billions of dollars in additional Medicaid funding for the government health care program for low-income people. And while Texas has the largest number of uninsured citizens, state lawmakers refused to expand the program, leaving thousands of people without healthcare access.

Ultimately, the lawsuit will end up being nothing more than a waste of taxpayers’ money, since Biden’s administration did provide notice, making it legal for the waiver to be rescinded. It’s a shame that Paxton’s office is more focused on his one political battles than in the wellbeing of Texas citizens.