AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas State Auditor today issued a report highly critical of the administration of the Children’s Health Insurance Program by the Health and Human Services Commission.
The report (available at the state’s website, www.sao.state.tx.us/reports/2004/04-042.pdf) finds in excess of $20 million in unnecessary or excessive payments by the commission out of CHIP funds to the contractor.
Brooke Rollins, president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, issued this statement:
“This is precisely why the calls to simply throw more money at government programs flunks the commonsense-test. Programs like CHIP must be scrubbed for sound management, fiscal efficiency and effectiveness long before we entertain the idea of simply giving them millions more. Solutions such as deregulating health insurance thus making it more affordable for employers to offer to employees is the real answer to our uninsured crisis in Texas.”
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is the state’s largest and oldest independent, free market research institute focusing on Texas’ public policy challenges. Based in Austin, Texas, the Foundation does not accept government funding.
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