More than 1 in 4 in Texas lack health insurance

[sonias]

Dallas Morning News
More than 1 in 4 in Texas lack health insurance
Thursday, September 10, 2009

AUSTIN — Once again, Texas has the nation's highest rate of people without health insurance.

More than one of every four Texans – 25.1 percent – were uninsured in a two-year average ending last year, a Census Bureau report showed today. That's up from 24.1 percent for 2005 and 2006.
(snip)
California still has the highest number – not percentage – of uninsured residents. It had 6.7 million uninsured people, compared with 5.9 million Texans in a three-year average ending last year. The Texas number is up from 5.7 million reported last year for 2005 to 2007.

New Mexico and Florida had the next-highest rates, with 23.1 percent and 20.1 percent of their populations, respectively, uninsured in 2006 and 2007.

Massachusetts and Hawaii came in at the bottom, with respective rates of 5.4 percent and 7.7 percent.

Not surprising but sad. Massachusetts of course has attempted universal insurance and Hawaii, well that's just damned impressive rates. They have very http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090910/NEWS01/909100345/Hawai+i+lawmakers+supportive">high percentages of employer provided health care in Hawaii.

Honolulu Advertiser 9/10/09
Hawaii lawmakers supportive
Hawai'i's Prepaid Health Care Act, passed in 1974. That law requires that employers provide health care coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours a week for four consecutive weeks.

Slow Down Health Reform?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHLCR6h5a2Y">Houstonians for Health YouTube Ad

Sonia

[sonias]

1. Who's for TexasCare?

Austin Chronicle 9/2/09
Who's for TexasCare?

The favorite topics of the contemporary fringe right are national health care reform (bad) and states' rights (good). So Gov. Rick Perry has decided to mix them together and suggest that the way forward is to let states handle health care.

(snip)

Perry argues that the Medicaid reforms being considered could add $30 billion to $60 billion to the state budget (which could be a real incentive for him to actually get serious about a balanced budget i.e. creating a sustainable tax base).

Now some might say that, after he spent much of the last lege session arm-twisting to get CHIP reform killed, that he lacks credibility on the issue of effective state-level health provision: But he has a point. After all, Texas has done such a bang-up job on kid's health issues. Oh, hang on, infant mortality has actually risen in Texas over the last five years.

Perry and the Texas Republicans managing health care should scare the pants off anyone. They will support death panels because they approved them for hospitals in Texas already.

Sonia

[onestepforward]

2. Yikes!!

Can you imagine having a "PerryCare" health insurance card?! It could have his smiling face on the front. :o

I just can't imagine anything beneficial or positive coming from Perry or repubs. Not one darn thing.

[onestepforward]

3. On a more serious note

snip-

According to a 2008 Families USA study based on U.S. Census Bureau data, approximately 2,700 uninsured Texans of working age died because they didn't seek medical care. In other words, seven Texans a day died last year due to lack of health care.

Here is an unbelievable statement about health care from Cornyn:

Perry's philosophy is the policy foundation for statewide elected officials like U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Despite the fact that Texas has led the country for years as the state with largest uninsured population, Senator Cornyn stated, "We have created greater access to quality health care in Texas… so, you have to understand what I mean when I say I want to make Washington, D.C., and the rest of our country more like Texas , frankly, we know the policies that actually work."

Link: http://reyes.house.gov/Blog/?postid=139682



We can do better than this. I just wonder if Obama gets a decent health care plan passed if Perry would just reject it. I have a feeling that the health care battle will be longer for us here in Texas.

[sonias]

4. Corndog is an idiot

God forbid the rest of the country was like Texas. We have enough people dying for lack of affordable health care and Cornyn uses the Texas model as a good example. The only thing Cornyn likes about it, is that he's got his and too damn bad you don't. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps - if you're sick you should get a job that has health care.

:grr:

Sonia

[onestepforward]

5. Speaking of picking yourself up by your bootstraps,

I ran across this interesting statistic from a report by the Texas Health Institute earlier:

Some of the report's finding may surprise readers. * The uninsured work. - At least 72 percent of Texas' uninsured live in households where one or more family members work full-time; another 10 percent live in households with a family member who works part- time. Most of these individuals work in one of Texas' small businesses -- those with 2-50 employees.

Link: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/821906/texas_health_institute_announces_comprehensive_study_on_the_uninsured_in/index.html

Yes, I couldn't believe Corndog said it either.

[sonias]

6. Health insurance premiums rose 91.6 percent in Texas

AAS 9/15/09
Health insurance premiums rose 91.6 percent in Texas

A national report that was released today says family health insurance premiums in Texas increased 91.6 percent since 2000 — 4.6 times faster than earnings.

The report by the nonprofit consumer organization Families USA says the rise in health care premiums for workers went from $6,638 for the average Texas family to $12,721 a year, but folks often got less for their money rather than more, according to the report. At the same time, median earnings of Texas workers rose from $23,032 to $27,573, a 19.7 percent increase.

"Our conclusion is that rising health care costs threaten the financial well-being of families across the country," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

The report argues throughout for health care reform, and as Pollack said, if it doesn’t happen soon, more families will be priced out of the market.

Report available here form Families USA web site:
Costly Coverage Premiums Outpace Paychecks in Texas

Sonia

[Sailing]

7. My employer now includes what they spend

for me on health insurance when they calculate my salary. And it is substantial. Without the public option, anyone over 50 will be basically unemployable. And at the rate that the premiums keep going up, it won't be very long before anyone over 40 becomes unemployable.

[sonias]

8. Why aren't more companies screaming about health care costs?

I still don't understand why businesses aren't demanding the government reform health care. They should absolutely be the first to want the cost of providing health care and managing the whole benefits process off their backs.

Wouldn't it be nice for them and for the employee not to have to worry about that whole process.

How competitive can they be in a world market where other companies don't have that cost in their bottom line?

That's one of the reasons companies like Toyota can do better pricing on their cars in the U.S.

Sonia

[justabob]

9. I'd like to know the answer to that too

I have only ever heard one answer that made any sense (read it somewhere on DU months ago now).... That poster mentioned that the big businesses are worried that they will lose the only hold they have over their employees, that their longtime employees will leave for other jobs because they are not beholden to their employer backed insurance policy. I can't see that there would be *that* big of a shuffle, but I can see why it might be threatening to big business to be worried about losing their best workers.

[sonias]

10. Interesing take

I hadn't thought about it that way. But I bet it would be easier to compete on a level playing field with good salaries. Employees would rather be rewarded with good salaries rather than seeing how much of their earnings go to the health care industry.

I still think the costs of paperwork and managing the benefits paperwork costs businesses a lot more than just paying their workers the money.

Just my take on it.

Sonia

[justabob]

11. agreed

I had never thought about it that way either, but it made sense. It doesn't answer the question well enough for me, but it is something to consider. Apparently companies are more than willing to fight against their own best interests, just like regular people do. Sigh.