The fact is that these stories hold up. Officials in private industry and in state office have been scrambling to respond even before these articles were published because of the reporting done for this series.
That reporting found such things as D’ashon Morris, a baby who suffered brain damage after being denied round-the-clock nursing care by Superior.
D’ashon’s adoptive mother, Linda Badawo, took on the onerous task of transporting D’ashon, now 3, from Mesquite to Austin for the hearings. She was the only parent or patient invited to speak last week, but she isn’t the only voice that will ultimately he heard.
There is another hearing planned for Wednesday this week. And a state inspector general is probing both D’ashon’s case and the question of whether the state conducted proper oversight of Superior.
The Texas Health Commission is also hiring 98 people who will be dedicated to strengthening the state’s Medicaid system. So there will be more nurses and more people conducting oversight.
That’s great, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Currently, the managed-care system isn’t working for those who need it the most. Lawmakers won’t have a clear picture of how broken the system is until they hear more from those who are suffering in it now.
What they said
“They’ve misrepresented the facts in all of these cases to make us look very bad.” — David Harmon, medical director Superior HealthPlan.
“I strongly believe that they don’t have any passion for what they do. … Superior is 100 percent responsible.” — Linda Badawo, mother of toddler D’ashon Morris.
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