Texas Health Insurance News

Houston Chronicle – WASHINGTON — A recent spate of national studies paint a dark portrait of the state of health care in Texas. Not only does the Lone Star State lead the nation in its uninsured population, adults and children alike, but the percentage of residents without health coverage could balloon from 27.5 percent to as much as one-third of the population in the next 10 years, a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute predicts.

The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee – An estimated 77,300 Wisconsinites lost health insurance coverage through August of this year after losing their jobs, according to a report by Families USA. The highest losses were seen in California (661,600) and Texas (396,900).

The NewsHour (PBS) – Until recently, self-employed writer Candace Talmadge, of Lancaster, Texas, was pleased with the health insurance she purchased through a small business association.

Dallas Morning News – PARIS – Houston native Jennifer Hua gave birth to her first two children in Texas, and her last two in France. The Houston hospital looked like a luxury hotel. The hospital in Paris was a converted prison.

Austin Business Journal – The Texas Hospital Association and the National Federation of Independent Business Leaders are pushing state lawmakers to increase health care accessibility in Texas.

Health Insurance Resource Center BLOG – They say everything is bigger in Texas, and sadly, they’re dead-on when it comes to this depressing statistic: that no other state in the nation has a larger percentage of residents who don’t have health insurance. According to the United Health Foundation’s 2008 report, America’s Health Rankings, 24.9 percent of Texans didn’t have health insurance. That’s more than 5 million Texans just waiting for a health care catastrophe.

Click here to see Texas’ State Health Guide.

Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX) – Texas workers whose employers dropped their company’s group coverage find themselves without the option to continue coverage through COBRA.