Care for Aging / Sick
Greg Abbott (R)
Abbott's record on long-term care is dominated by a decade-long federal lawsuit: when he took office in 2014 his administration declined to sign the 2013 settlement agreement on community placement for Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and on June 20, 2025, a federal judge ruled Texas was illegally institutionalizing people with disabilities in nursing homes in violation of the ADA, the Medicaid Act, and the Nursing Home Reform Act. Disability-rights groups have publicly demanded he meet to discuss caregiver pay and Medicaid cuts in the federal 'Big Beautiful Bill.' On dedicated aging-services funding, Abbott's office points to HHSC community-based programs and assisted-living standards designed to support aging in place. He has not pushed expanded Medicaid or LTSS coverage expansion, and his post-partum Medicaid extension fight with the Biden administration produced no broader Medicaid expansion. Alzheimer's-specific funding initiatives have not been a public Abbott priority.
Gina Hinojosa (D)
Hinojosa's aging-and-disability record runs primarily through her broader Medicaid-expansion argument: she has tied accepting federal dollars to keeping rural hospitals open and insuring 'about a million Texans,' which would disproportionately benefit older and disabled Texans currently outside the coverage gap. She has criticized private-equity acquisitions of medical facilities — relevant to nursing homes and long-term-care chains in Texas — saying she wants to 'rein in these out-of-control profiteers who are making healthcare more expensive and making Texans sicker.' The available public record does not include specific Hinojosa-authored bills on the Texas IDD Medicaid waiver waitlists (which exceeded 170,000 Texans as of 2025) or on home- and community-based services rate increases, nor a published plan addressing HHSC structure, the STAR+PLUS program, or the Promoting Independence Initiative. Her platform also does not detail a Texas response to federal Medicare changes. This is one of the thinnest areas of her published record.
Sources
- Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor, official campaign priorities page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- CBS Austin, 'Dem nominee for governor Gina Hinojosa weighs in on school budget crises and immigration,' March 2026. (full list)
- Texas Tribune, 'Federal judge: Texas illegally institutionalizing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,' June 20, 2025. (full list)
- CBS Austin, 'Texas groups demand action from Abbott on disability rights and fair caregiver pay,' 2025. (full list)
- Office of the Governor, Committee on People with Disabilities, 'Aging Texans' resource page. (full list)
- Office of the Governor, 'Statement on Biden administration refusal to approve Texas post-partum Medicaid extension for mothers.' (full list)
- The Arc of Texas, 'Medicaid waivers' resource page — IDD waiver waitlists and home-and-community-based services data. (full list)