If you want a fine example of where this country’s health care system is headed without reform, just take a look deep in the heart of Texas. It’s not a very rosy future. As I have mentioned many times before, the key elements to the discussion focus on cost, quality, and access – all issues of significant importance to Texans.
Let’s start off with some terrifying numbers. Consider this: 25% of the population of Texas are uninsured. Nationally, 20% of all Americans under the age of 65 are uninsured. As they say, everything is bigger in Texas. Ah but it gets better. The Austin American-Statesman has recently reported that 500,000 state workers – those with some of the best healthcare benefits in the state – are facing a $143 million deficit in their health care fund. That amounts to a budget increase of 14% over the next year. By 2015, the plan that provides health insurance for 193,000 retired public school employees will be insolvent. This all amounts to increases in premiums and greater out-of-pocket expenses for state workers. And when state workers are impacted (those that already have good health insurance coverage), what happens to those that have lousy or no coverage at all?
Along similar lines, Texas and California have the highest healthcare costs in the nation. In Texas, you might even be one of the 3.4 million people that forego treatment because they can’t cover the cost of care. This is second only to California, at 3.6 million.
Thus far, coverage is shrinking and costs are rising. That’s not a very healthy outlook. But, again, it gets worse.
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Allan Besselink is a physical therapist ...
Read more here on my About page .. 