Read about Welfare Policy and Medicaid and Health Care Policy in Chapter 12 of your textbook. Also, review Sections 2 and 5 of the Poverty in Texas content by the Texas Politics Project and the Texas Tribune article “Poverty in Texas drops to lowest level in a decade.” Why does Texas have such a high poverty rate (when compared to other states in the U.S.), and what steps might the state government take to reduce the poverty level? How does the political culture of Texas (refer back to Chapter 1) influence the government’s response to poverty? What are the conservative vs. liberal explanations for poverty (see section 5 in the “Poverty in Texas” content)? What role do you believe the state and federal governments should play, if any, to reduce the poverty rate?
