Tag Archives: Texas Healthcare

Abbott Wants Fed Money for Healthcare

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Gov. Greg Abbott has adamantly refused to expand Medicaid even though it would provide billions in federal dollars and provide health insurance for many of the millions of Texans who are still uninsured.  The negative economic impact on the Texas economy is estimated to be at least $66 billion in lost funding – money that would create jobs and keep workers and their families healthy.

Abbott, who must be seen doing everything he can to oppose “Obamacare”, hasn’t been shy about attempting to hang onto another source of critical funding for Texas hospitals.  The federal government provides a huge amount of money to Texas hospitals through the uncompensated care pool. For four years, the feds have reimbursed Texas’ safety-net hospitals for care they provide to people who cannot afford to pay because Texas refuses to embrace Medicaid expansion.  Now that the feds are threatening to cut off this funding, Abbott is up in arms and has his administration attacking those who are arguing for Medicaid expansion.  The Texas Tribune has the whole sordid story of Abbott’s duplicity, his attempt to smear his opponents and his refusal to turn over the emails that show his role.

Make up your mind, Gov. Abbott.  Either you are for or against the federal government funding health care in Texas.

Rick’s Legacy of Failure in Healthcare

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Thanks largely to flailing presidential candidate and former governor Rick Perry, Texas has the worst healthcare record in the entire nation.  The Dallas Observer reports that Texas is the only state that still has more than 20% of its population without healthcare coverage and ranks only ahead of Oklahoma and Louisiana in the quality of healthcare provided to its citizens.  All so Rick could score points in his futile attempt to grab the presidency and presumably work to ruin the healthcare system of the rest of the nation.

The state comes in third to last in the overall ranking, ahead of only Louisiana and Oklahoma, which is the rough equivalent of beating a couple of asthmatic 4-year-olds in a foot race. Similarly, Texas falls significantly below the national average in such categories as patient safety, healthy living, HIV/AIDS, nursing homes, etc. Not only that, in many cases it has fallen further below the national average than it was in the past, which either means that care has gotten worse (unlikely but possible) or that other states have gotten better faster (more probable).

So, what specifically are Texas’ biggest failures? Of the 200-odd categories, Texas fares worst in “New AIDS cases per 100,000 population age 13 and over” (489 percent below the national average); “Hospital admissions for uncontrolled diabetes without complications per 100,000 population, adults” (383 percent); and “Avoidable admissions for hypertension per 100,000 population age 18 and over” (332 percent).