Texas will delay awarding Medicaid contracts until 2025, pausing a shakeup that could have led 1.8 million beneficiaries to switch plans, The Dallas Morning News reported Oct. 31.
Texas's Health and Human Services Department agreed to delay the award of the contracts until June 2025, after the state's legislative session in June 2025, according to the outlet.
In April, Texas's Health and Human Services Department said it intended to award new Medicaid contracts in its 13 service areas. The contract awards would have forced 1.8 million Medicaid beneficiaries to switch to new managed care plans, according to the Texas Tribune.
The state did not award contracts to three health system owned plans — Fort Worth-based Cook Children's Health Plan, Houston-based Texas Children's Health Plan and Corpus Christi-based Driscoll Children's Health Plan.
Cook Children's and Driscoll Children's had said their health plans would likely shut have down without the contract awards. Cook Children's sued Texas HHS in June, alleging the contract award process was flawed.
In October, a judge ordered the state to temporarily halt the contract awards.
Some Texas lawmakers had urged the state to pause the contract awards until 2025, so the legislature could amend the award criteria.
Texas has the third-largest Medicaid population in the U.S., at 4.4 million in 2023, according to KFF. The state has not awarded new Medicaid contracts since 2012, after canceling two previous procurement processes.
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