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Texas Care Map
Who qualifies for what in Texas, where to be seen when you qualify for nothing, and what to do about the bill.
Coverage, clinics, and medical bills, worked out for Texas.

Medical Disclaimer

Last revised: July 30, 2026

This is not an eligibility determination

Start here, because it is the limit readers most often miss. Nothing on Texas Care Map decides whether you qualify for anything. Not an article, not a table, not a worked example, not an answer in the reader questions.

Eligibility for Medicaid, CHIP, CHIP Perinatal, Healthy Texas Women, or any other Texas program is determined by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, on an application, using your household’s own documented circumstances. Eligibility for a premium tax credit or a cost sharing reduction is determined by the Health Insurance Marketplace. Eligibility for a county indigent health care program is determined by your county. Eligibility for a hospital’s financial assistance is determined by that hospital, under its own written policy.

We explain what those rules say and where they are published. We cannot apply them to you, and if a page here appears to say you qualify or do not qualify, read it again: it is describing a rule, not issuing a decision. The only way to find out is to apply. Applying and being denied costs you an afternoon. Not applying because a website implied you would fail can cost you a year of coverage.

We are not a Certified Application Counselor organization in our site capacity, we are not authorized by HHSC or the Marketplace to act on your application, and we cannot check, chase, escalate, or appeal a case for you.

This is not medical advice

Texas Care Map is general information and education about paying for and getting to care. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for examination, diagnosis, or treatment by a qualified clinician who can see you.

Our reviewer is a family physician who checks that the clinical content is accurate and safely framed. That is a check on the writing. It is not a consultation, he is not your physician, reading this site or writing to us does not make him your physician, and no article here is a treatment plan for anybody in particular.

Where a page discusses when to use an emergency room, when urgent care is enough, or how to stretch a prescription, it is describing general patterns and costs. Your symptoms, your history, and your medications are not general. Ask a clinician.

Figures describe rules, not your household

The income limits, poverty guideline percentages, program thresholds, discount tiers, and dollar amounts on this site are the published rules as they stood on the verification date shown next to them. They are not a calculation of your situation.

Three specific ways that matters:

  • Household composition and income are counted in ways that surprise people. Whose income counts, whose does not, and who is in the household differ between programs, and a figure that looks like a clear no can turn into a yes once the counting rules are applied properly.
  • Texas program rules move, sometimes more than once a year, and the poverty guidelines are reissued every January. A figure past its verification window may already be wrong.
  • County and hospital level rules are local. County indigent programs, hospital financial assistance policies, and free clinic eligibility are set locally and vary widely. Nothing here can tell you what yours does.

In an emergency

If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Do not wait, and do not spend the time reading this site first.

Cost is the wrong thing to weigh in that moment, and there is a legal reason. Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a Medicare participating hospital with an emergency department must provide a medical screening examination and stabilizing treatment to anyone who comes in with an emergency medical condition, regardless of insurance or ability to pay. That does not make the care free, and a bill will follow, but the bill is a problem you can work on afterwards. Some of the worst outcomes described anywhere on this site began with somebody deciding to wait.

For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 at any hour.

We work carefully and we date everything, but we make no warranty that the content is complete, current, or applicable to your circumstances, and any reliance you place on it is at your own risk. External links are provided so you can read the source yourself; we do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or accuracy.

Nothing here is legal advice or tax advice either. Medical debt, collections, and premium tax credit reconciliation all touch areas where a lawyer, a legal aid organization, or a tax professional may be the right person to ask.