- United States
- Texas
- Letter
Release the $9.8 billion in CHIRP funding that the Trump administration is withholding from Texas hospitals right now. Every day this drags on, Texas hospitals lose $27 million. Four million low-income Texans — most of them children — depend on Medicaid, and hospitals are already warning they will be forced to cut services if this impasse continues.
This is not a gray area. Gov. Abbott told Secretary Kennedy directly on August 7th that Texas' hospital tax structure fully complies with federal law. Harris Health in Houston alone could lose up to $1.4 billion next year. Dr. Esmaeil Porsa called the potential impact "catastrophic for Texas' safety-net healthcare system." Children's Health in Dallas warned that delays threaten pediatric specialty care and behavioral health services. These are real people losing access to care they cannot get anywhere else.
Fix this. Push CMS to approve Texas' CHIRP funding immediately. Sick Texans — including people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for basic survival — cannot wait 11 months like Florida did while bureaucrats argue over paperwork.