SAN ANTONIO — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday rejected findings by The Dallas Morning News that health care officials are protecting the profits of a multibillion-dollar industry while thousands of patients are denied critical medical services.

"The emphasis has always been on health care," Abbott said during a recording of Lone Star Politics, the political show produced by KXAS-TV (NBC5) and The News. "The reality is there's just so much that has to be done and there is an inadequate number of employees to be able to respond to it."

Abbott is a vocal defender of managed care whose top advisers have connections to health care companies. Friday's interview was the first time Abbott has commented on findings by The News.

The Legislature, however, is poised for action. State Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, will convene a House Human Services committee hearing Wednesday to discuss "information reported by The Dallas Morning News regarding Medicaid managed care and the Health and Human Services Commission."

State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, said Abbott should be disturbed by the findings in the series and work aggressively to find solutions.

"The Dallas Morning News' reporting demonstrated that there's an acute need for the governor and the Legislature to protect the most fragile Texans — adults and children," he said. "It's the state's responsibility and Gov. Abbott doesn't appear to be up to the challenge."

But Abbott said metrics show the state has made gains and is providing needed services to foster children, despite The News' findings that neglect persists and more mental health care services are needed. He said that leading the state's Health and Human Services agency is a massive undertaking and that the state "has been crimping on the pay."

"It's a massive task to try to lead an agency like this, but we're committed to making it happen," he said. "We all know we can do a better job, but I view this as an opportunity, the same way I did in reforming foster care."

Pain & Profit is a yearlong investigation that found health officials are protecting a multibillion-dollar industry while thousands of patients are denied crucial medical care — often with devastating consequences.

The series exposed systemic denials of care and other abuses by companies paid to administer Medicaid, the government insurance program for poor and disabled people as well as foster children. It also detailed how Texas health officials have hidden the magnitude of failures from the public and reduced hundreds of millions in fines for companies that failed their patients.

Abbott on Friday did not provide any specific proposal to improve the delivery of health care under Medicaid, or to make the Health and Human Services agency be more efficient.

Raymond said that when lawmakers convene next year, he's considering bills to address problems outlined in the series. One would allow parents of medically fragile children the option to stay in traditional Medicaid, where the state pays doctors directly without the middleman.

Another bill would direct a state inspector general to oversee complaints and denials by managed-care companies to ensure that vulnerable people aren't being denied necessary medical care. The health and human services watchdog currently focuses on finding fraudulent claims with an eye toward saving the state money, not improving patient outcomes.

As Abbott noted, the state had to respond to another crisis situation involving children last year. After reporting by The News in 2016 and 2017, Abbott signed landmark legislation that he said would improve child protection in Texas. Child abuse investigators failed to make timely initial checks on thousands of Harris County kids mentioned in tips about maltreatment, several months after The News identified Houston CPS investigations as teetering on the brink of meltdown.

The state is also appealing U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack's 2015 ruling that the state's foster care system is "broken" because it subjects already vulnerable youths to mayhem and harm and that remedial orders must be implemented.

Lone Star Politics airs at 8:30 a.m. Sunday on NBC5.

Read the entire Pain & Profit series here: