January 7, 2014 4:17 PM

PEARSON PUSHES BACK AGAINST TEXAS OBSERVER PIECE ON HEALTH CARE NAVIGATORS

Calls assertions in the story "flat out false;" Observer clarifies details but stands by their reporting

Pearson, the company at the center of so much controversy over standardized testing in Texas, now finds itself in the midst of another red hot controversy: Obamacare. In a piece published this week in the Texas Observer, Pearson is singled out as one of the firms that could reap financial rewards if strict new regulations are adopted for the professionals who help people sign up for health coverage.

The lead paragraph of the piece entitled “Texas’ Health Care Navigator Rules Could Be Sweet Deal for Pearson and Other Companies” says: “By requiring new health care “navigators” to get hours of costly training beyond what’s required by federal law, Texas would steer hundreds of thousands of dollars to training and testing firms.”

In a letter to the Observer which was provided to the Quorum Report, Pearson spokesman Terry Abbott said much of what was in the piece was flat out false. “No request has been made by the Texas Department of Insurance for Pearson to be involved in the navigator program in Texas,” Abbott wrote. He went on to say that the way the story is written seems “clearly designed to support the contention of the story that Pearson will make “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from the navigator program in Texas. Such a contention is completely false.”

By Scott Braddock