Texas Gets B+ Rating, Runs a $3.3 Billion Shortfall

So much for ratings of State governments:

Texas' state government got a B-plus in a report card released Monday by The Pew Center on the States. The center ranked the states based on how well they manage their budgets, staffs, infrastructure and information. A closer look:Texas' grade: B+. The state made a B in 2005, when the last report card was issued.

Here's the reality that really matters, not some worthless rating system:

Texas would lose more than $3.3 billion in Medicaid funding if Congress doesn't stop new rules designed to arrest the growth of federal health care spending, according to a congressional report issued Monday.

The new rules target hospitals and other organizations that use Medicaid to provide health care to the uninsured. In a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission estimated that the changes to hospital reimbursements would create a shortfall that could imperil health care for 185,000 patients.