Why Texas’ power outages are plaguing California, and Ted Cruz is clamming up

The power grid problems plaguing Texas as the state endures unseasonably frigid temperatures have struck vulnerable Californians and their doctors, too.

That’s because the primary data center for Medi-Cal, which provides health insurance for millions of the Golden State’s low-income residents, is located deep in the heart of Texas. Dallas, to be exact. Like large swaths of the Lone Star state, the data center was hit by a power outage, which temporarily shut down Medi-Cal’s website and affected operations from just after midnight on Monday through early Wednesday morning.

According to California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), the outage affected access to the website and transactions.

The power woes are also sparking a comeuppance for some Texas politicians who just months ago were slagging California for its trouble keeping the lights on this summer during a heat wave. But while some of Silicon Valley’s iconic companies like Oracle and HP have been uprooting their headquarters for the rival state in recent months, it wasn’t widely known that some state agencies in Sacramento have been storing data in places like Dallas.

The California Medical Association, which notified members of the problem on its website, said the failure hit “the Medi-Cal website and self-serve applications that support eligibility, treatment authorization and claim submission.”

The organization also said DHCS was “reminding physicians and pharmacy providers to honor emergency-fill and dispensing protocols during this time…To the extent permitted by federal law, provide for the dispensing of at least a 72-hour supply of a covered drug in an emergency situation.”

By Wednesday morning, DHCS said, the issues had been resolved.

The data center issue was just one of many examples of the havoc wreaked by the failure of Texas’ power grid. Unlike other states, which rely on the eastern and western power grids, Texas created its own power grid — operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — in a bid to avoid federal regulation. That might sound nice, especially to conservatives, but it now means Texas can’t easily get energy from — or reasonably pin blame — elsewhere.

Last summer, as Californians were suffering through rolling blackouts amid sweltering heat, several politicians from Texas saw an opportunity to pile on the state and its Democratic lawmakers.

“California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted in August. “Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy standard nationwide.”

California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity.

Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide.

Hope you don’t like air conditioning! https://t.co/UkKBq9HkoK

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 19, 2020

“Alexa, show me what happens when you let Democrats control energy policy,” tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

Alexa, show me what happens when you let Democrats control energy policy. https://t.co/PLtgofajlg

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) September 8, 2020

Those tweets don’t look so good right now, and Californians have noticed — calling out the lawmakers on social media and elsewhere. In an unusual move (in politics, anyway), Cruz acknowledged as much this week.

“I got no defense,” Cruz tweeted, adding a shrug emoji. “A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!”

I got no defense.