Texas | Winter | 2008 | Health Plan Analysis

Medicare Advantage special needs plans are popping up like wildflowers after a rain in Texas, growing in membership and diversity as plans tailor themselves to local and regional needs. Texas' businesses are targeting diabetes control as a health issue, publishing a study on the disease's prevalence and costs. Five Texas regions are working together to try to form three-share programs to help low-income employees of small businesses afford insurance. And with commercial insurance membership flat in Texas, the only real growth area for plans is in public sector programs – Medicaid and Medicare.