Turns out "The Texas Way" means "with an illness"
Episcopal Health Foundation and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy have
released a study on Texas healthcare insurance.
The percentage of Texans without health insurance dropped 31 percent since enrollment began in the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace, according to a new report released April 30 by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.
The report found that from September 2013 to March 2015, the percentage of uninsured adult Texans ages 18-64 dropped from 25 to 17 percent.
Wow. That is very dramatic. To understand how dire the health insurance situation is in Texas all you need to know is:
Despite this improvement, Texas remains the state with the highest percentage of people without health insurance, and for the first time, Texas now has the largest number of uninsured residents in the country.
The report found that the poorest Texans had the lowest drop in the uninsured rate. While there was a 45 percent drop in the uninsured rate for individuals earning more than $16,000 a year, the decrease was only 20 percent for those with lower incomes.
A big part of the issue for impoverished Texans is that their state opted out of Medicaid expansion. This means that while Texans are becoming insured, the county and state will continue to subsidize emergency room and urgent care visits for those without health insurance. It's a lose-lose for everybody!
The 31 percent decrease in the rate of uninsured Texans was similar to drops in other states that did not expand Medicaid coverage, but much lower than the 53 percent average decrease in states that did expand Medicaid coverage, the report found.
You have come a long way, Texas. Now it's time to do what's right and cross the rubicon.