By KRWG News
Texas – Cuts to fees paid doctors in the state health care program for low-income Texans are raising fears that already declining physician participation will fall further.
The Dallas Morning News reports the health care and insurance industries fear a 1 percent Medicaid fee cut scheduled for Sept. 1 will be the first in a series. That's as state leaders order state agencies to cut their next two-year budgets by 10 percent because of an expected $18 billion revenue shortfall.
About 3.3 million poor and disabled Texans depend on the Medicaid program for health care. However, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which administers the program, says fewer than a third of the state's 48,700 practicing doctors participate in the program. Some participants limit the number and kind of patients they accept.
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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.