Action Update - Issue 80 :: October 10, 2006
Texas Economy Continues to Best National Growth
From the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
The Texas economy remains strong and continues to grow at a stronger pace than the national economy, although there are some pockets of weakness. Year-to-date employment growth through August was 2.7 percent, an increase of 177,300 jobs. Although employment increased a modest 1.7 percent in August, slower than July’s pace of 2.7 percent, private employment growth picked up to 2.3 percent compared with 0.2 percent in July. Compared with the nation, Texas employment was more than twice the national rate, year-to-date (Chart 1). Growth was broad-based across industries, with all sectors adding jobs. Employment gains were most robust in the energy and construction sectors.
Yücel, Mine K. (2006), "Regional Update, September 2006,"
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Expand Your Insight, October 4, 2006
The CHIPS Charade in Texas
by Janelle Shepard
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What is it the media doesn't understand?
The
Corpus Christi Caller-Times references a “precipitous drop in the number of children enrolled in the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program” and “thousands of children who may not be receiving the health care they should get.”
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The fact is Texas made a policy decision to require Texans on the CHIP program:
- To renew their application every six months rather than once a year
- To verify their income every time they renew
- And to pay a renewal fee, based on a sliding scale, that max's out at $50 per year (barely more than $4 per month for a child’s health care coverage).
In the eyes of most Texans these are acceptable conditions for social service applicants to meet. The fact that these conditions have coincided with a drop in CHIP suggests many people in the program probably did not belong in it.
The media and misses the big picture of Texans covered under social service health programs. In fact, as has been laid out by HHSC many times, the number of children covered under Medicaid and CHIP combined increased from 1.08 million in 1999 (the year before CHIP came into effect) to 2.25 million as of mid-2006.
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We already know some candidates have twisted the truth and want more government and less responsibility from Texans. Taxpayers should continue to demand the opposite: less government and more accountability from everyone.
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Janelle Shepard, Executive Director
Texans for Texas, Inc., 815-A Brazos St #384, Austin, TX 78701-9996.
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