Letter to the Hon. Greg Abbott, Governor of the State of Texas - Testing For All Texans to Protect Texas--Members Urge Abbott to Implement Free Testing and Enable More Texans to Get Insured

Letter

Dear Governor Abbott,

Now that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act has been adopted with bipartisan support, we respectfully urge you to assure that any uninsured Texan who receives a physician's recommendation for a COVID-19 test can get that test for free. Under the measure just passed, you are empowered to expand Medicaid eligibility for all uninsured individuals in Texas. While aware that you have strongly opposed Medicaid expansion, this specific expansion is solely for testing and requires no state funding.

To overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, we must identify its scope by determining who is infected to mitigate community spread and assure necessary treatment. Many among the 5 million uninsured Texans will otherwise not seek testing, leaving all in our community at risk. We request your approval for Texas to accept federal funds by expanding the Texas Medicaid program for COVID-19 testing for our vulnerable neighbors.

Further, we ask that you join in our call to HHS Secretary Alex Azar to reopen the Federal Marketplace through a Special Enrollment Period under the Affordable Care Act. An estimated 1.1 million uninsured Texans are eligible for free Marketplace coverage right now. A Special Enrollment Period will allow more people to get coverage during this crisis, making all of our community safer.

We stand ready to assist in any way we can to protect the public health of the millions of Texans we all serve. We appreciate your consideration of this request and look forward to your response.