Texas and Privatization

(MoneyWatch)  This article in the American Statesman summarizes Texas's state government efforts to privatize portions of their social welfare net. Last December the state had to end a contract with Accenture that privatized the process of signing up Texans for Medicare and food stamps. The contractor was not meeting goals in signing up people in a timely fashion. The state will still out source this but with a different company. The article discusses a possible attempt to out source the state's child welfare system. This is a complicated service to outsource due to the legal and medical issues and the argument that the profit motive really doesn't make this better. The article quotes union representatives as being highly negative about all out sourcing and the state management being cautiously optimistic. One issue is that it not always easy to quantify savings from outsourcing. You do eliminate civil service personnel which normally have higher benefits and pension costs, but that is a long term savings. Many times the government does have to provide buildings, it equipment and support. This is a debate that will go on for a long time as government grows and shrinks with the national situation.