Ignoring Crisis of the Uninsured

(Originally published by Examiner News)

Why not Texas? It would seem that if you faced a massive problem, you would want to be in the forefront of finding solutions. Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case when it comes to health care insurance in Texas.

The June issue of Governing Magazine takes a look at the large number of states trying to address the crisis of the uninsured. It reports that some 20 states made health care coverage a major priority this year. Texas could arguably be included on that list because of Rep. Sylvester Turner's bill aimed at shoring up cracks in the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Senate legislation designed to move an additional 200,000 individuals off the rolls of the uninsured. However, those efforts in the last legislative session pale in comparison to what's happening in other states and to what could happen here with a drastic change in priorities.

No longer willing to sit back and wait for the federal government to act on universal health care coverage, state governments are seizing the initiative. Massachusetts has served as the model with its 2006 plan that requires all individuals to have insurance or pay fines. Those who can't afford insurance become eligible for subsidies.

Interestingly, Massachusetts has routinely been bashed by the right-wing as a great bastion of liberalism. However, its health care plan was based on a proposal by the Heritage Foundation, a highly conservative think tank. According to Governing, "The idea that the state would not dictate terms of insurance, but instead act as a sort of broker in a private marketplace, has created a unique political amalgam. The ideas of individual responsibility and market competition have drawn support from Republicans and business groups. But using such ideas to provide more coverage has proven to be acceptable to Democrats and health care advocates."

Now five big states are trying to follow suit with major health care insurance plans of their own. California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington are stepping forth with ideas that range from giving tax breaks to promote insurance coverage to requiring insurers to maintain coverage for children under their parents' plans until the age of 30.

Meanwhile, Rep. Garnet Coleman's $3 billion proposal that would have insured an additional one million individuals never made it out of committee in the Texas Legislature. The Republican leadership in Texas wasn't willing to look at a plan nearly that big while in California, for comparison's sake, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is supporting a $12 billion program.

There are an estimated five million uninsured individuals in Texas with more than a million of those being children. For a problem that big, there's not going to be just a Democratic solution or just a Republican solution. And as other states have shown, there's no need for such a partisan divide on an issue of such critical importance to us all.

Why not Texas? Good question. We can either come together and start looking for big answers like other states or we can continue to be a big national disgrace.