At a Sept. 15 hearing focused on Texas women’s health, the Texas Medical Association urged lawmakers to shore up state programs that serve low-income women and expand access to prenatal nutrition care – testifying that “modest steps can do a great deal of good” for every Texas family.
TMA Council on Legislation member Deborah Fuller, MD, delivered two rounds of testimony before the House Public Health Subcommittee on Maternal Health, Menopause, and Access to Evidence-Based Medicine. The first supported the state’s Healthy Texas Women (HTW) program and related initiatives; the second focused on how the state could improve prenatal nutrition.
“HTW fills a real need, offering a variety of free women’s health and family planning services to eligible women in Texas,” the Dallas obstetrician-gynecologist said.
The program aims to expand access to women’s health and family planning services for low-income women in Texas and offers more general health services such as screening and treatment for high cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension. In fiscal year 2024, the program served over 148,000 Texas women, according to the Texas Women’s Health Programs Report.
Its sister program, HTW Plus, provides services for health conditions that contribute to maternal deaths and chronic illness in Texas, including postpartum mental health conditions, cardiovascular and coronary conditions, and substance use disorders.
Dr. Fuller told lawmakers the programs need updates to work as intended, such as expansions to their list of covered services. She also called on lawmakers to fortify women’s health care in Texas by increasing expectant mothers’ access to prenatal testing for mineral deficiencies, prenatal vitamins, and nutrition counseling.
She noted in her testimony that while folic acid supports development of a baby’s brain and spinal cord, for example, not all expecting mothers in Texas have access to it. Corn masa flour, a staple in many Texas kitchens, is often not fortified with folic acid and folate, leading to Hispanic families carrying a higher incidence of neural tube defects due to folic acid deficiencies.
This year, TMA’s House of Delegates voted to amend the association’s existing policy on folic acid, calling on TMA to advocate for legislation and regulatory action to require fortification of corn masa flour and corn masa products with folic acid at levels consistent with U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendations.
“Adequate nutrition is essential to the mother’s health and the healthy growth and development of her baby,” Dr. Fuller testified. “These issues touch the lives of every Texas family.”
Dr. Fuller also called on lawmakers, among other asks, to advance point-of-care iron testing in community clinics, federally qualified health centers, and mobile units and to allow telehealth nutrition counseling to be billed as a covered HTW/Medicaid service.
Keep up with TMA's legislative testimony on the State Advocacy webpage.
Alisa Pierce
Reporter, Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1469