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Why Is Texas Healthcare So Bad?

Why Is Texas Healthcare So Bad
A high uninsured rate, tough Medicaid regulations, and a lack of services has given Texas some of the highest rates for disease and death. You don’t want to be sick in Texas. The federal government’s latest National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR) gives the Lone Star State some poor grades.

What is the problem with healthcare in Texas?

Mansur Shaheen | Feb 5, 2021 | Texas As one of the largest states in the U.S. in both landmass and population, filling the health care gaps in Texas can be a battle on multiple fronts. Legislators and lobbyists discussed the issue on Thursday during the Closing the Health Care Access Gap panel at the 2021 State of Reform Texas conference. Why Is Texas Healthcare So Bad Get the latest state-specific policy intelligence for the health care sector delivered to your inbox. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, with nearly a third of the state’s residents not having access to health insurance. The state also has the largest volume of uninsured residents of any U.S.

  • State. Twenty-six counties do not have a maternity ward.
  • The pandemic created even more issues for Texans.
  • The pandemic-induced economic contraction caused many to lose their health care,
  • The reaction to the virus also moved much of health care to telehealth.
  • Many Texans, and specifically those in rural areas, do not have access to broadband internet,

Dudensing believes telemedicine has the potential to be a valuable tool in the future of healthcare, but internet infrastructure must be improved upon first: “Telemedicine one of the fastest easy ways to get access to care across the state, but you still have the same disparities that we have right now.

When you face having more providers in an urban area compared to a rural area, you have the same problem with telemedicine. You don’t have the same access to broadband as you do in an urban area. There are underserved areas. There are individuals that have a harder time getting access to those providers.

Even though I think we’ve all realized telemedicine is a huge asset to get access to care a huge investment needs to occur to help ensure that we’re both expanding access to broadband and at the same time, ensuring people have access to the high speed internet.” Representative Donna Howard, a Democrat from Austin, believes expanding Medicaid is a key to granting Texans health care access.

Texas is one of 12 states that has not adopted Medicaid expansion that was passed as a part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Howard believes that passing expansion in the state would be cost effective, as it would pass many cost burdens currently shouldered by the state on to the federal government and expand health care coverage.

Another issue leading to gaps in health care is a lack of staffing. Health care staffing issues have been a problem for providers nationwide for a long time and the pandemic has exacerbated the situation, Drew Darby, a Republican representing San Angelo, points out health care gaps in Texas are partially due to staffing problems.

  • While Texas has 14 medical schools, meaning the state is producing a large pool of doctors every year, it has trouble keeping its talent at home.
  • Unlike states like New York and California, Texas does not fully fund medical residencies.
  • This incentivizes some younger medical talent to leave the state.

The state’s poor health care infrastructure also diverts talent out of the state. There are also some additional regulations Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) face in Texas that they do not face in other states. Bill Hammond, the chief executive officer of Texas Employers of Insurance Reform, pointed out that many nurses often leave the state, and neighboring New Mexico even once ran an advertising campaign to draw Texas APRNs out of the state.

  1. Hammond believes lifting some regulations could attract nurses into Texas the same way lighter regulations benefitted New Mexico.
  2. Entering into an interstate medical licensing compact can be a crucial step to solving these staffing issues, especially in the age of telemedicine, according to Dudensing, but it may have its limits: “It’s the only way you’re ever going to get across the state line providers.

I think you know we’ve waited and pushed it off for years and years and years, but this becomes a really big deal with telemedicine, because it is so easy to do across state lines. the best way to increase the number of providers that are available to do telemedicine is an interstate compact, but I don’t usually think it’s going to solve what we call the ‘rural problem, the underserved Medicaid populations.” Interstate medical compacts allow for physicians licensed to practice in one state to practice in other states within the same compact.

Does Texas have the worst healthcare system?

Study says Texas is the 8th worst state for healthcare in 2022 Doctor measuring blood pressure to a smiling woman as a part of a medical exam. Doctor measuring blood pressure to a smiling woman as a part of a medical exam.

  • by:
  • Posted: Aug 2, 2022 / 06:06 AM CDT
  • Updated: Aug 2, 2022 / 08:43 AM CDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. DALLAS (KDAF) — The COVID-19 pandemic has put a new focus on the priority of healthcare. With new variants still infecting people across the nation, it is imperative that everyone has access to affordable and quality healthcare.

WalletHub has released a new study determining which states are the best and worst for health care in the nation. They compared all 50 states and Washington D.C. across various metrics measuring accessibility to healthcare. How did Texas stack up? Not good. According to the survey, the Lone Star State ranked as the 8th worst state in the nation for healthcare, citing that Texas has the largest percentage of uninsured children and adults in the country.

Here’s how Texas ranked in key metrics (with 1 being the best and 51 being the worst):

  • 18 th – Avg. Monthly Insurance Premium
  • 24 th – Hospital Beds per Capita
  • 45 th – Physicians per Capita
  • 28 th – Dentists per Capita
  • 51 st – % of Insured Adults
  • 51 st – % of Insured Children
  • 32 nd – % of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years
  • 50 th – % of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year
  • 28 th – % of Residents Age 12+ Who Are Fully Vaccinated

Here were the top 10 states in the nation for healthcare:

  1. Rhode Island
  2. Massachusetts
  3. Hawaii
  4. Minnesota
  5. Maryland
  6. Vermont
  7. Colorado
  8. Connecticut
  9. Maine
  10. Iowa

For the full report, visit, Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. : Study says Texas is the 8th worst state for healthcare in 2022

Is Texas healthcare good or bad?

This article summarizes healthcare in Texas, In 2022, the United Healthcare Foundation ranked Texas as the 38th healthiest state in the United States. Obesity, excessive drinking, maternal mortality, infant mortality, vaccinations, mental health, and limited access to healthcare are among the major public health issues facing Texas.

Does Texas have a good medical system?

This Is Where Texas’ Health Care System Ranks in the US The U.S. health care system faced new levels of scrutiny in the past year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There were shortages of medical masks, ICU beds, as well as nurses. But even before the pandemic, some states were much better equipped to handle both everyday health needs — and the pandemic — than others.

  • There are many states in which residents are much more likely to lack health care insurance.
  • In many of these states, there are also fewer medical professionals relative to the population, which can hinder access to care, as well as underfunded medical hospitals.
  • The health care system in Texas ranks as the worst in the country.
See also:  What Is The Biggest Threat To Security Of Healthcare Data?

Texas ranks as the state with the worst health care system. This is in large part due to the high rate of residents of all ages lacking health insurance and the limited access to certain types of health care. The uninsured rate, at 18.4%, is double the national figure and higher than that of any other state.

The shares of people under 19 and under 6 years old lacking health insurance are also the highest in Texas. The state also has among the fewest mental health providers and primary care doctors per capita. About 18.7% of adult residents in Texas report being in poor or fair health, the 13th highest share in the U.S.

Additionally, Texas has a significantly higher rate of preventable hospitalizations at 4,793 per 100,000 people, the 13th highest in the U.S. This measure reflects how efficiently outpatient services are used as well as the overall quality of health care in a state.

To identify the states with the worst health care systems, 24/7 Wall St. constructed an index comprising six health measures for each state: the share of residents without health insurance, state spending on health care as well as on hospitals per capita, and the number of dentists, doctors, and mental health providers per 100,000 people.

Each of these measures was weighted equally in the index.

Rank State Uninsured rate Adults in poor or fair health Premium contribution, single coverage State spending on health care per capita
25 Wyoming 12.3% 15.3% $96.25 $513
24 Delaware 6.6% 16.3% $127.92 $480
23 Montana 8.3% 14.1% $93.50 $167
22 Missouri 10.0% 19.5% $109.83 $332
21 Nebraska 8.3% 13.8% $112.58 $151
20 Illinois 7.4% 15.9% $115.17 $97
19 Kentucky 6.4% 21.8% $121.08 $98
18 North Dakota 6.9% 13.6% $98.50 $188
17 South Carolina 10.8% 17.8% $111.58 $247
16 North Carolina 11.3% 18.0% $115.92 $164
15 West Virginia 6.7% 23.6% $113.08 $160
14 Oklahoma 14.3% 20.9% $115.25 $223
13 South Dakota 10.2% 13.4% $120.17 $178
12 Louisiana 8.9% 21.4% $122.08 $101
11 Alabama 9.7% 21.4% $132.75 $117
10 Arkansas 9.1% 23.3% $104.42 $58
9 Florida 13.2% 19.5% $120.17 $225
8 Idaho 10.8% 15.1% $73.08 $104
7 Tennessee 10.1% 21.2% $119.25 $111
6 Indiana 8.7% 18.2% $121.67 $90
5 Nevada 11.4% 19.1% $104.58 $93
4 Mississippi 13.0% 22.1% $109.08 $133
3 Arizona 11.3% 18.6% $126.92 $81
2 Georgia 13.4% 18.4% $108.25 $119
1 Texas 18.4% 18.7% $112.92 $109

Read more: : This Is Where Texas’ Health Care System Ranks in the US

Why does Texas rank so low in healthcare?

A high uninsured rate, tough Medicaid regulations, and a lack of services has given Texas some of the highest rates for disease and death. You don’t want to be sick in Texas. The federal government’s latest National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR) gives the Lone Star State some poor grades.

Why are so many Texans uninsured?

Initial findings put spotlight on the challenges the uninsured face Most of the roughly five million uninsured Texans already qualify for a government health program or for federal subsidies that would help pay for coverage — but they have not signed up.

Texas 2036 has launched a groundbreaking, multi-year study to find out why. The new Texas 2036 study seeks to create a more holistic understanding of Texas’ uninsured population — the largest in the country — and to better identify barriers and personal decisions that result in Texans not having access to affordable care.

Texas’ future is in our people. For our state to prosper, we must work to ensure they receive a quality education and access to affordable health care.” – Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of Texas 2036 “While Texas’ health coverage challenge is widely known, policymakers need a clear, data-driven view of our uninsured population: who these fellow Texans are, what they know about their coverage options, whether and how they are accessing care, and what barriers they face.

“This multi-year study attempts to answer these questions and offer a path toward strategic, targeted health policies that will benefit our people and state for generations to come.” Texas has the unfortunate distinction of having the nation’s highest uninsured rate — about 18% in 2021, compared to the national average of 8.6% — and its largest uninsured population of roughly 5 million people.

Rather than start with policy prescriptions, Texas 2036 initiated a comprehensive effort — including months of surveys and focus groups — to learn more about this population, and to surface the most effective ways for Texans to get the affordable care they need.

  1. Texas 2036 also hopes to better understand the thought processes and decision-making of uninsured Texans to better inform the development of solutions that meet their needs.
  2. Texas 2036’s multi-year study is being funded in part through the generous support of Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX), St.

David’s Foundation and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. To learn more about additional funding opportunities that are available, contact [email protected], “The comprehensive approach Texas 2036 is taking to better understand the reasons why millions of Texans lack health insurance, despite being eligible for affordable government-funded or private health plans, is an important step to helping close the coverage gap,” said Jo Betsy Norton, senior vice president for public affairs at Texas Mutual, which is the lead sponsor of the project.

  • A study of this magnitude is long overdue when you consider that most of the roughly five million uninsured Texans already qualify for some type of subsidy, but don’t sign up,” said BCBSTX president Jim Springfield.
  • Understanding why, can help lead to the necessary solutions that can get uninsured and underinsured Texans covered with access to care that will make for a healthier Texas.” Texas 2036 launched this multi-year research project partly in response to key facts and trends that run counter to general narratives about the uninsured population in Texas — and the need to further explore the dynamics driving these facts and trends.

They include:

While expanding eligibility for Medicaid to 138% of the federal poverty level (about $38,300 annually for a family of four) offers a cost-effective solution to increase coverage eligibility, it would only add coverage eligibility for about 16% of Texas’ uninsured population. Regardless of whether Texas decides to expand eligibility for Medicaid, additional work is required to meet the needs of the remaining 84% of uninsured Texans. Roughly half of uninsured Texans have incomes over 200% of the federal poverty level (about $55,500 annually for a family of four). This challenges a narrative that uninsured Texans are low-income, and it shows that accessing affordable care is a challenge for working, middle-class Texas families. A significant majority of uninsured Texans — 70% of respondents in our initial survey research — are unsure of their eligibility for financial assistance through the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to some analyses, more than 40% of all uninsured Texans likely qualify for federal subsidies that would help pay for health insurance through ACA marketplaces, but they are nonetheless unenrolled. This suggests that insufficient awareness and utilization of current programs may be an important barrier facing uninsured Texans — which is also the case for government health programs, such as Medicaid, where an additional 13% of uninsured Texans may qualify. The most-cited reasons among uninsured Texans for not having health coverage is related to their employment status and the availability (or unavailability) of insurance through their employer. While there are ways to obtain coverage outside of employer-sponsored insurance, the primacy of these responses demonstrates that many uninsured Texans think of coverage as an employment benefit rather than a stand-alone plan.

The health care debate in Texas would be very different if all sides were laser-focused on an objective we all should share: more affordable, accessible health care across Texas.” –Charles Miller, senior policy advisor for Texas 2036 “This multi-year study helps create that focus.

  1. As we roll out results over the next three years, we hope and believe this study will help policymakers and elected officials chart paths and devise solutions that all sides can rally around to effectively reduce the number of Texans who face unexpected medical debt or who skip care due to cost.
  2. Increasing the number of Texans with health insurance can play an important part in that process.” As part of the ongoing study, Texas 2036 conducted a survey of more than 2,000 uninsured Texans, and the organization has been conducting dozens of focus groups with uninsured people around the state for the past two months.

Focus groups have been held in English and Spanish, reflect regional diversity, and have included a focus on uninsured Texas mothers. Groups were conducted both in-person and virtually, using dozens of local partners to help recruit participants and capture as many points of view and experiences as possible.

  • This process helped ensure a holistic representation of Texas’ uninsured population.
  • What makes this multi-year research study so unique is its comprehensive approach to answering multiple questions that arise when discussing Texas’ high uninsured rate, including why eligible Texans are not signing up for ACA plans when subsidies are available, or why they are not signing up for government programs like Medicaid.” –Holly Heard, PhD, vice president of data and analytics at Texas 2036 “This study seeks to answer all of these questions so that policymakers and the public can develop comprehensive, data-driven solutions for this diverse population of Texans.” While careful evaluation and study is needed to better understand the distinctive groups of Texans who do not have health insurance, one early insight has already prompted further study into the enrollment process for government programs: Focus group discussions revealed a stark disconnect between the ACA marketplace enrollment premiums the team had estimated participants would owe, and the enrollment premiums participants reported seeing when they had tried to enroll in the past.

As open enrollment approaches in November, Texas 2036 aims to observe individuals as they go through the enrollment process, and to identify where those disconnects arise and ways to reduce friction in the enrollment process. See attached for a presentation that provides data and charts based on our preliminary findings from the study.

What is the leading cause of death in Texas?

Stats of the State of Texas

TX Leading Causes of Death, 2017 Deaths U.S. Rate**
1. Heart Disease 45,346 165.0
2. Cancer 40,668 152.5
3. Stroke 10,790 37.6
4. Accidents 10,763 49.4

Does Texas rank last in mental health?

TEXAS — Mental Health America, a nonprofit devoted to promoting mental health and addressing the needs of people with mental illness, has again ranked Texas dead last in the nation for access to mental health resources.

Is healthcare expensive in Texas?

In Texas, the average cost of health insurance across all tiers is $469 per month, a decrease of 6% between 2022 and 2023.

Is healthcare in Houston good?

As home to Texas Medical Center — the world’s largest medical complex — it stands to reason that Houston ranks among the country’s best cities for health care.

Where does Texas rank in public health?

Public health is worth one-third of the weight in ranking the Best States for health care. Public Health Rankings.

State Texas Texas
Mental Health 12
Low Infant Mortality Rate 16
Low Mortality Rate 24
Low Obesity Rate 31

How does Texas rank in education?

San Antonio was ranked the least educated big city in Texas last year by WalletHub. UnSplash / Feliphe Schiarolli “> click to enlarge Why Is Texas Healthcare So Bad UnSplash / Feliphe Schiarolli San Antonio was ranked the least educated big city in Texas last year by WalletHub. Despite Texas’ proclivity for bragging about its booming economy, a new study suggest it’s got a long way to go when it comes to offering up an educated workforce.

  • Texas landed at No.40 on a new ranking of U.S.
  • States based on their education levels.
  • Researchers with online finance site WalletHub compared all 50 states across 18 metrics, including educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races.
  • The Lone Star State is a bit of an outlier in the rankings.

Texans’ average level of education attainment is abysmal, putting the state second to last when it comes to the share of the population over 25 with a high-school diploma. But, despite that major shortfall, Texas still managed to rank No.17 in quality of education.

Researchers based that overall score on Blue Ribbon Schools per capita, average quality of universities and other factors. The report comes as Texas trumpets meteoric economic growth and major new investments from corporations including Tesla, Hewlett Packard and Charles Schwab. Even so, Clifton Conrad, a professor of higher education at the University of Wisconsin, warned in WalletHub’s report that high-quality education is essential to states’ economic growth.

What’s more, cities with better-educated populations are better suited to handle severe economic shocks such as a recession, he added. “Education policy should be, without exception, an integral part of the economic development strategy of states,” Conrad said.

What city in Texas has the best hospital?

The number 1 hospital in Texas is Houston Methodist Hospital. See also Best Children’s Hospitals in Texas.

Is Texas the least insured state?

Texas in 2021: Worst for Both Children and Adults –

  • 5.2 million Texans (all ages) were uninsured in 2021, meaning 18.0% of Texans were uninsured.
  • Texas is the state with both the largest number and percentage of uninsured residents in the United States, Texans make up 9% of the U.S. population, but 19% of the country’s uninsured population.
  • Texas has the worst uninsured rate by a big margin : Texas’ 18% uninsured rate is 4.2 percentage points worse than Oklahoma’s, the next-highest rate. The U.S.2021 uninsured rate is 8.6%.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 working-age Texans 19-64 is uninsured, making up the biggest share of Texas’ uninsured, with younger adults at the highest likelihood of being uninsured.
  • Texas children and youth (under 19) are more than twice as likely as U.S. kids overall to be uninsured: 11.8%, compared to 5.4% for the U.S. Only one other state (WY) has a child uninsured rate in double digits. Texas’ last-place rank is despite our child uninsured rate improving from 12.7% in 2019.
  • Nearly 930,000 Texas children were uninsured in 2021, and the Census estimates 495,000 of those had incomes below two times the Federal Poverty Income Level.
  • A much larger share of Texans who identify as Hispanic are uninsured. The gaps in coverage rates among racial and ethnic groups are much smaller for Texas children than for adults, because public insurance from Medicaid and CHIP is available for lower-income children (but not for adults).
    • 34% of Hispanic working-aged Texas adults (ages 19-64) are uninsured — more than three times the rate of non-Hispanic white working-age Texans (11%).
    • 16% of Hispanic Texas children are uninsured, compared to 8% of non-Hispanic white children lacking coverage.
  • Black working-age adults also have a much higher chance of being uninsured, at 18%.
  • Asian-American children and Black children in Texas have uninsured rates near those of non-Hispanic whites: 7% for Asian children and 9% for Black children.

Where does Texas rank in poorest states?

Introduction

# State Poverty Rate
12 Tennessee 13.6%
13 Texas 13.4%
14 North Carolina 12.9%
15 Arizona 12.8%

Why are so many people fat in Texas?

Experts blame a lack of physical activity, genetics, emotional instability and sleeplessness as some of the leading causes of obesity. In the same study, the personal finance website reported that one of the Texas’ top comfort foods is brisket, a dish that totals more than 700 calories per serving on average.

How many Texans are poor?

Table

Population
Income & Poverty
Median household income (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021 $67,321
Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021 $34,255
Persons in poverty, percent  14.2%

Who is most uninsured in America?

Key Details: –

Of the total nonelderly uninsured population in 2021, just over seven in ten (70.2%) had at least one full-time worker in their family and an additional 11.6% had a part-time worker in their family. More than eight in ten (81.6%) uninsured people were in families with incomes below 400% FPL in 2021 and nearly half (48.2%) had incomes below 200% FPL. In addition, people of color made up 45.1% of the nonelderly U.S. population but accounted for 61.3% of the total nonelderly uninsured population. Hispanic and White people comprised the largest shares of the nonelderly uninsured population at 39.0% and 38.7%, respectively (Figure 4). Most of the uninsured (77.1%) were U.S. citizens while 22.9% were non-citizens in 2021 and nearly three-quarters live in the South and West.

Nonelderly adults are more likely to be uninsured than children. The uninsured rate among children was 5.3% in 2021, less than half the rate among nonelderly adults (12.2%), largely due to broader availability of Medicaid and CHIP coverage for children than for adults (Figure 5). In general, people of color are at higher risk of being uninsured than White people. The uninsured rates for Hispanic people (19.0%) and American Indians and Alaska Natives (21.2%) are more than 2.5 times the uninsured rates for White people (7.2%) (Figure 5). However, like in previous years, Asian people have the lowest uninsured rate at 6.4%.

Non-citizens are more likely than citizens to be uninsured. The uninsured rate for recent immigrants, those who have been in the U.S. for less than five years, was 28.9% in 2021, while the uninsured rate for immigrants who have lived in the US for more than five years was 34.8%. By comparison, the uninsured rate for native citizens was 8.4% and 10.2% for naturalized citizens in 2021 (Appendix Table B). Uninsured rates vary by state and by region; individuals living in non-expansion states are more likely to be uninsured (Figure 5). Ten of the fifteen states with the highest uninsured rates in 2021 were non-expansion states as of that year (Figure 6 and Appendix Table A). Economic conditions, availability of employer-sponsored coverage, and demographics are other factors contributing to variation in uninsured rates across states.

Over two-thirds (73.9%) of the nonelderly adults uninsured in 2021 have been without coverage for more than a year.3 People who have been without coverage for long periods may be particularly hard to reach in outreach and enrollment efforts.

How many people in Texas don’t have healthcare?

Texas in 2021: Worst for Both Children and Adults –

  • 5.2 million Texans (all ages) were uninsured in 2021, meaning 18.0% of Texans were uninsured.
  • Texas is the state with both the largest number and percentage of uninsured residents in the United States, Texans make up 9% of the U.S. population, but 19% of the country’s uninsured population.
  • Texas has the worst uninsured rate by a big margin : Texas’ 18% uninsured rate is 4.2 percentage points worse than Oklahoma’s, the next-highest rate. The U.S.2021 uninsured rate is 8.6%.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 working-age Texans 19-64 is uninsured, making up the biggest share of Texas’ uninsured, with younger adults at the highest likelihood of being uninsured.
  • Texas children and youth (under 19) are more than twice as likely as U.S. kids overall to be uninsured: 11.8%, compared to 5.4% for the U.S. Only one other state (WY) has a child uninsured rate in double digits. Texas’ last-place rank is despite our child uninsured rate improving from 12.7% in 2019.
  • Nearly 930,000 Texas children were uninsured in 2021, and the Census estimates 495,000 of those had incomes below two times the Federal Poverty Income Level.
  • A much larger share of Texans who identify as Hispanic are uninsured. The gaps in coverage rates among racial and ethnic groups are much smaller for Texas children than for adults, because public insurance from Medicaid and CHIP is available for lower-income children (but not for adults).
    • 34% of Hispanic working-aged Texas adults (ages 19-64) are uninsured — more than three times the rate of non-Hispanic white working-age Texans (11%).
    • 16% of Hispanic Texas children are uninsured, compared to 8% of non-Hispanic white children lacking coverage.
  • Black working-age adults also have a much higher chance of being uninsured, at 18%.
  • Asian-American children and Black children in Texas have uninsured rates near those of non-Hispanic whites: 7% for Asian children and 9% for Black children.

Does Texas have expensive healthcare?

Health insurance costs keep rising in Texas — here’s why AUSTIN (KXAN) — Insurance costs keep going up, and Texans are often paying more than people in other states. The findings come from a from The Commonwealth Fund, which supports independent research on health care issues.

It found Texans spent more than 14.2% of the median income on premium contributions and deductibles. That added up to $9,311 in 2020. In 2010, health insurance made up 12.7% of Texans’ median income. “Texans are doubly disadvantaged. They’re paying more on average for their premiums and deductibles, and also have just lower median incomes on average,” said The Commonwealth Fund Vice President Sara Collins.

Just for family coverage in Texas, we pay an annual average of $6,950 in premiums. That’s the 9 th highest state cost in the country and nearly $1,000 more than the average of $5,978.

Collins said rates keep going up because healthcare providers and drug companies are charging more than in the past.”What’s predominantly responsible for those rising costs is how much providers are paid for those services, so how much hospitals charge for their services, how much doctors charge for their services,” she said. When it comes to what can be done to lower costs, Collins points to some of the provisions in the Build Back Better Act.

“The Build Back Better bill that’s under consideration in Congress right now would actually make it possible for more people with expensive employer plans to get covered through the marketplaces,” she said. “If you’re contributing more than 8.5% of your income toward your premium and you’re in an employer plan, you would likely be eligible now for a marketplace subsidy.” Collins also said it includes a provision that would allow employees who are eligible for Medicaid in Texas to have access to a public marketplace option.

  • But is working its way through the U.S. Senate.
  • President Joe Biden and Democrats have been working to get Sen.
  • Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, to support the bill and help them pass it through the reconciliation process, which only requires 51 votes.
  • Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc.
  • All rights reserved.
  • This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

: Health insurance costs keep rising in Texas — here’s why

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