HEALTH COVERAGE GAP - A new report from the Episcopal Health Foundation in Houston predicts the number of uninsured people in Texas could skyrocket next year following the COVID-19 outbreak. An estimated 1.2 million Texans who have lost their jobs and their employer-sponsored insurance, are currently eligible for either Medicaid or subsidized plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But Elena Marks, who heads the foundation, says in 2021-- many of those people may fall into what's known as the "coverage gap." That means they'll make too much money for Medicaid and too little for subsidized coverage through the marketplace.
"So at the beginning of 2020 we had about 760,000 Texans in the coverage gap," Marks explained. "Come early 2021 that number is going to escalate up to 1,143,000 people."
Texas is one of fourteen states that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA. Texas also has the largest number of uninsured people and the highest uninsured rate in the U.S.
