TWHC Comments During HHSC Virtual Post Award Forum on HTW Waiver

By Perdita Henry

The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) hosted a Post Award Forum for the Healthy Texas Women (HTW) 1115 Waiver. The Coalition, and other stakeholders, were in attendance to bring attention to concerns around the removal of three key policies:

• Auto-enrollment of new mothers from Pregnant Women’s Medicaid into HTW;

• Adjunctive eligibility for women applying for HTW that are already enrolled in WIC, have a child in Medicaid, or in a household that receives SNAP or TANF; and

• The Simplified HTW Application Form (Form H1867).

Longtime women’s health providers are raising concerns that these changes will impact the number of clients they are able to serve in HTW and compromise client’s access to timely and preventive healthcare.

Constructing barriers and disrupting the efficiency these policies created will result in fewer women served, increasing unintended pregnancies – ultimately impacting health outcomes and increasing state Medicaid costs. These policies helped streamline enrollment and eligibility into HTW. With their removal, there’s concern that the goal of HTW—connecting women to health services—will be undermined.

You can learn more about our concerns and requests of HHSC in the comments here.