In Rick Perry's Texas: Medicaid Is Wasting Millions -- On Braces
Sat, 09/03/2011 - 12:22am — Joe Conason
Republican presidential frontrunner Rick Perry complains constantly about Washington’s “culture of runaway spending,” wasteful government programs, and federal intrusions into the affairs of the states. In Fed Up, the book he published last year, the Texas governor bitterly criticizes Medicare (which he terms “unconstitutional”) as well as the health care reforms passed by President Obama and by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, which he regards as infringements on freedom.
Before Perry goes after Romney and Obama on medical spending, however, perhaps he ought to try putting his own state’s government in order first. According to a new investigation by a Dallas television station, the Medicaid program in Texas – overseen by Perry – is wasting millions of dollars annually on orthodontic braces for children who may not even need them.
But the story gets worse: Texas Medicaid wasting big money on unnecessary braces due to lax regulation by the state –and those millions are going straight to for-profit clinics owned by hedge funds.
Reviewing Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA’s investigation, health care expert Trudy Lieberman explains in the Columbia Journalism Review how the teeth of poor children in Texas became a golden opportunity for wealthy investors on Wall Street. Last year, the state spent more than $184 million to provide braces for 120,000 children – many of whom apparently did not qualify for orthodontic care under the state’s own criteria, according to WFAA investigative reporter Byron Harris. That is more than twice as much as Texas spent on the same program three years ago –and the same amount as all of the other 49 states combined.
“Judging by the increased payouts,” Harris noted, “the teeth of Texas children are growing more crooked each year.”