Whadya know, Texas is going to get $10 million a year in health care money from the United States government, the one Rick Perry and his tribe want to secede from. The state will put up a 20 percent match, meaning $12 million a year to help struggling Texans buy health insurance.
Now, Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured. This money will help about 6,000 per year of Texas’ 5.9 million uninsured citizens.
We should be thankful for the pittance. Helping to end the suffering or avoid the death of even a single Texan is something. On the other hand, this is like trying stitch a severed artery with a picometer of kite string.
So, while Perry’s Republican Party is screaming for the feds to keep their hands off Texas, his administration is authorizing a campaign sound-bite about using the fed’s generous hands on Texas to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. Perry’s trying to have his confederacy and eat it too.
Here’s how the Austin Business Journal reported new census figures on uninsured Texans.
It’s a list the state of Texas would rather not be first on.
Once again Texas is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to the percentage of its residents who are uninsured. Just over 25 percent of Texans were uninsured in a two-year average calculated at the end of 2008, according to the Census Bureau. That’s an increase from the 24.1 percent uninsured rate in 2005 and 2006.
From a numbers perspective, Texas has 5.9 million total uninsured residents.
Nationwide, the percentage of uninsured stands at 15.4 percent, a figure that hasn’t changed much since the 2006 calculation.
I based my estimate on the coverage by taking my own health insurance costs, roughly $1,000 per month or $12,000 a year for three of us. If $12 million will be spent, that looks like enough for 1,000 families of three, or 3,000 people. I assumed small business would pay for half the premiums, so I doubled the number of new insured to 6,000.
To be fair, the federal money appears to be headed to a larger state program, the “Healthy Texas” program. That program promises to reach 50,000 Texans in 2010, and an additional 50,000 each year thereafter. But the fiscal note (pdf) attached to the original bill this last session says the average cost per month per member will only be $85. That seems very low. As described, the policy is not all that different than mine, though the cap is somewhat lower. It will cover the first $5,000 each year in medical expenses, 80 percent of the next $70,000, and nothing after that.
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About Glenn W. Smith
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
Sorry, but the ABJ is wrong.
Because if that wasn’t a list Texas wanted to be first on, they have had ample opportunity to do something about it.
Then again, no time like the present to wake up, eh?
You are spot on. It’s not accidental. Texas leadership has intentionally left millions to suffer and even die.
and we have tort reform! where are the savings we were to benefit from?
You are making an interesting argument. But do you take into consideration that 20% of that number are illegal aliens? Does any other country on earth offer health insurance for non residence? Does your point of view include mandatory indigent health care? Any one can walk into an emergency room here ( University Medical Center or Covenant) and get treatment. The tax payers of the Lubbock County Hospital district foot the bill. So while it is a fact that Texas has the highest number of uninsured, but that does not equate to a lack of health care available to anyone and everyone who simple asks for help.
The “illegal alien” excuse to deny US citizens adequate health care is a sad, thin, racist argument. And, if we would simply quit wasting billions of dollars rewarding private insurance companies (with 30 to 40 percent waste, overhead and indulgent salaries) the taxpayers of Lubbock County would not have to pick up the tab for many lawful US citizens denied insurance coverage.