The House has shown its support for contractor integrity and the Brown Amendment to SB 7, the Medicaid managed care bill. The House version of SB 7 differed from the Senate version, it was returned to the Senate, the Senate refused to accept the House amendments and a conference committee was named.
We need to be certain the conferees and all House members are aware of the LOOPHOLE slipped into the amendments.
A proposed change to the Brown amendment that's big enough to drive a truck through--or allow PBMs and HMOs with track records of Medicaid fraud to bid on HHSC Medicaid managed care contracts. In fact, we cannot find any examples of "bad actors" barred from bidding under item #4.
Start calling the House conferees as soon as you finish the Senate calls. As with the Senate, tell House conferees to either:
- Stay with the original Brown Amendment language, or
- Eliminate the language "convicted and found liable" of a penalty or fine. This is a HUGE LOOPHOLE that enables these businesses to continue their practice of settling multimillion dollar cases to avoid admission of guilt or wrong-doing. They treat these fines as just another cost of doing business.
Tell the Representatives that it is fiscally responsible to filter out contractors who have been assessed penalties or fines in excess of $500,000 for Medicaid fraud through monetary settlements with the government, not just convictions!
Below are the House members of the conference committee.
- Rep. John Davis (R-Houston) (512) 463-0734
- Rep. Veronica Gonzales (D-McAllen) (512) 463-0578
- Rep. Lois Kohlkorst (R-Brenham) (512) 463-0600
- Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) (512) 463-0516
- Rep. John Zerwas, MD (R-Simonton) (512) 463-0657
Also, call
- Speaker Joe Strauss (R-San Antonio) (512) 463-1000
The complete phone # for Sen. Deuell: (512) 463-0102
You've called the Senate conferees, the House conferees and now please call your representative.
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Thank you! And please let us know the result of your calls.
