Rep. Coleman & Sen. Ellis: Texas Needs to Expand its Health Care Options

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Rep. Garnet Coleman and Sen. Rodney Ellis speak out about the state of health care in Texas.

Excerpts:

“One of the biggest challenges Texas must address is our health care crisis and the plight of the uninsured in our state. At long last, we have a historic opportunity to make real progress, but politics and pennywise-but-pound-foolish thinking stands in the way of helping millions of Texans get access to the care they deserve.”

“Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, and 6.1 million Texans lack real access to health care. We have one of the chintziest Medicaid programs in the nation, with hundreds of thousands of truly needy Texans left without insurance. Last session legislators chose to cut $10 billion more from our health care budget, underfunded Medicaid by about $4 billion and made deeper cuts to already-minimal services.”

“Expanding Medicaid will cover approximately 1.5 million additional Texans, create jobs and reduce Texas hospitals bills for uncompensated care. Currently, hospitals absorb more than $5 billion per year in uncompensated care provided to uninsured Texans who show up in our doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. And, if we do not expand, Texans will pay for other states to expand their Medicaid programs.”

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