Texas’ Struggling Rio Grande Valley Presses for Medicaid Expansion

KHN: May 21, 2013

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. –When the sun rises over the Rio Grande Valley, the cries of theurracas – black birds – perched on the tops of palm trees swell to an unavoidable cacophony.

That is also the strategy, it could be said, that local officials, health care providers and frustrated Valley residents are trying to use to convince Gov. Rick Perry and state Republican lawmakers to set aside their opposition and expand Medicaid, a key provision of the federal health law.

To the struggling counties that stretch along the border with Mexico, where unemployment hovers above 10 percent and the local tax base often cannot fund basic government services, the roll-out of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and its promise to open up Medicaid to all low-income adults is akin to eyeing a winning lottery ticket. In Cameron County, for example, where Brownsville is the county seat, it will mean $7 billion added to the local economy over a decade. In neighboring Hidalgo County where some 800,000 people live, the windfall is even more impressive: some $12.6 billion, according to an analysis by Ray Perryman, a Texas economist well-regarded by both political parties.  Read more