Texas - a broken healthcare system

[wildcat]

What does a health crisis look like? See Houston - USATODAY.com

Nearly 24% of the Texas population is not covered by health insurance according to the article. It also includes statistics by state - Minnesotans are looking pretty good.

Martha -
How has Minnesota been able to address the problem?

 

[REWahoo]

See. I told you not to move here.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Health Care System 1 REW 0

 

[FinallyRetired]

See. I told you not to move here.

They didn't even mention the chiggers in the hospitals.

 

[Rustic23]

In 1995, 18% of the Texas population was illegal alliens. I would guess that number is higher now. Does the 24% of the population in Texas without healthcare take in this number?

 

[wildcat]

In 1995, 18% of the Texas population was illegal alliens. I would guess that number is higher now. Does the 24% of the population in Texas without healthcare take in this number?

I am not sure but it does mention immigrants as being part of the problem. Look at the top states w/o health care coverage - most are border states - and the rest seem to be those that have experienced high population growth. Texas has experienced a double whammy.


REWahoo -

You aren't doing a very good job of talking people out of moving to Texas. You may have to find another line of work - ha!

 

[SamHouston]

What ends up being free health care to illegals AND others who refuse to pay after being treated in the Harris County hospital system is a real burden on the taxpayers in this county. The cost is in the millions of dollars each year according to local television stations and the Houston Chronicle.

As long as that is allowed to happen, the system will remain broken.

I would be willing to bet that those folks are counted in the statistics even though they are making out like bandits.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I would doubt that they're counted, since technically they dont exist.

Even if they come in for health care treatment, I'm fairly sure theres nothing on the admittance form to check off indicating that you're an illegal alien.

While burdens on specific hospitals and geographic regions may be onerous, the specific hospitals continue to operate where they are, and total spending on unpaid healthcare for illegal aliens - which you can derive by removing everything else that CAN be measured - is exceeded by an order of magnitude by the costs of purchasing paper by the total US healthcare system.

I would imagine theres a correlation between high insured rates and the weather. If you're employed, you have a higher chance of having or being able to afford health care. If you're unemployed, you're going to find living outdoors or in unheated areas a little more challenging in minnesota than in texas.

 

[SamHouston]

I agree that there's plenty of waste out there, CFB, but throwing good money after bad doesn't ease my pain as a tax payer who has to support this "charity hospital."

As for not counting them, I think you also have made the case that they may very well be counted since no one dares to ask them their status. The hospital keeps tabs as well as it can but their estimated loss is largely based on the information that they gather in bits and pieces and on gut feel. And, even in Houston, when I saw the list of nationalities that were here illegally there were dozens of countries involved. There were plenty of illegals here from Western Europe, for example, in last year's hospital stats.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm afraid I've had this conversation one too many times...

 

[SamHouston]

We all have...

 

[Rustic23]

It is interesting that we can count illegals when we want i.e. you can't deport 12,000,000 people, but we can't seem to be able to count them at others i.e. we spend too much in healtcare on illegals. Once more it's not the statistics but the statisticians that tell the story.

I use to work for Harris County. The county has a pretty good idea what it cost them to provide services to illegals. For political reasons this number is seldom advertised. However it is a lot more than a buck three eighty!

The rub for most Border states, is that the Federal Government is responsible for imagration, but the local government picks up the tab. In some border counties the cost to provide emergency health care, mainly new borns, exceeds the county budget. Imagine, you wake up some morning and there are 60 strangers sitting at your table, and your local government says it is your responsiblity to feed them and pay their doctor's bill. While that may sound stupid, that is exactly what happens in the border states. Your visitors may cut your grass and even all your neighbors, they get paid, but you pick up thier expence.