Amid Health Care Debate, Texas Continues to Lead Nation in Uninsured
As the debate about how to fix America’s broken health care system rages on, Texas
hangs in a more precarious position than any other state. According to a report released last week by the Census Bureau, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, with more than 25 percent of Texans living without health insurance. In other words, of the 46 million people in America who are uninsured, 13 percent of them live in Texas despite the fact that the state makes up only 7 percent of the county’s population.
The numbers make clear the importance of the current health care debate, as the question of whether Congress is able to pass meaningful health care reform will have deep implications in our state. Texas Impact and others in the faith community have been working to bring about the necessary changes to ensure accessible and affordable health care, and you can catch up with the resources included below.
Evaluating the Health Reform Bills from a Faith Perspective
Conference Call with President Obama and Faith Community
Faith and Health Care Reform: Conference Call With Jackson Day & Jack Glaser
If you are ready to take action, call your representatives in Congress [click here to find your legislators in DC], write a letter to the editor of your local paper, sign the Faith Inspired Vision Statement, or get in touch with Texas Impact staff for more ideas on how to get involved.
"Healthy Texas": Public Reinsurance for Texas
SB 6 by Senators Duncan and Nelson would establish "Healthy Texas," a new program to make health insurance affordable for small employers with low-wage workers. Healthy Texas would use a public reinsurance model like those in use in other states including New York. Texas Impact supports the use of public reinsurance and highlighted this approach in our 2008 report A New Diagnosis.
How It Works:
SB 6 (The Healthy Texas Act) would create the Small Employer Premium Stabilization Fund. This fund would reimburse insurers for large insurance claims made by individuals who have group insurance under the Healthy Texas program. Insurers would have to pay the first $5,000 of a claim, but could seek reimbursement for 80 percent of the cost of claims ranging from $5,000 to $75,000.
To qualify for the program, a business could not have offered group health insurance to employees in the last year. Thirty percent of employees must be at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, and to join the program, 60 percent of employees must agree to purchase the insurance. The bill is estimated by the Legislative Budget Board to cost $122.5 million over the next biennium.
A 2007 report issued by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) found that while 89 percent of large firms in Texas offer group health insurance, only 32 percent of small firms, those with fewer than 50 employees, offer health coverage to employees. This can be attributed to the increasing costs of premiums, which according to the TDI report, have more than doubled in the last ten years. Small business owners are less able or less willing to pay high premiums; according to a 2004 TDI survey, only 37 percent of these owners are willing to pay more than $100 a month per employee for health insurance.
