John Cornyn: “With regard to health care to help accommodate the large influx of people to Texas, my State was given a waiver by the…”

“With regard to health care to help accommodate the large influx of people to Texas, my State was given a waiver by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that allows the State to reimburse providers who incurred costs for uncompensated health care. Evacuees at any income level who did not have insurance coverage were provided medically necessary health care through this waiver. Texas provided evacuees health care, long-term care, prescription medicines, and medical transportation through two programs, Medicaid and the Uncompensated Care Program. Those not eligible for the Medicaid Program but who had incomes below a certain cutoff were provided coverage under the Uncompensated Care Program. I next will talk about education. This chart depicts an evacuee, a young lady who is showing up for elementary school. There were 45,099 Katrina evacuees enrolled in Texas on October 13. Today, there are still about 36,000 Katrina children in our public schools alone. The photo next to me depicts one of the many such centers that were quickly established at conference centers and temporary shelters to register children who had evacuated to our State. Each of these children represents a cost of about $7,500 a year for the State of Texas to educate. Furthermore, approximately 5,000 Katrina evacuees are currently enrolled in Texas public universities and colleges.…”