Texas Health Insurance
How healthy is living in Texas?
If you live in Texas and have health insurance, count your lucky stars. Or maybe your "Lone" star. It has the highest percentage of uninsured people of any state in the nation -- roughly one out of four do not have coverage.
In a national ranking of the healthiest states in which to live, Texas creeps into the top ten in only one of the 20 criteria tracked: there are only eight states with a lesser percentage of smokers than Texas. Quite a change from 2006 when 17 states ranked better.
Other tough challenges Texas faces are a huge population of children living in poverty, poor immunization of children and low availabilty of primary care physicians. Cardiovasular deaths and reducing preventable hospitalization are also trouble areas.
Texas' overall rank, as measured in this study, is 37th healthiest state in which to live.
See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Texas.
Does Texas have a risk pool for the uninsurable?
Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool
1-888-398-3927
Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state-to-state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the poolto keep it in the black. In the best cases they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Find more on risk pools here.
Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in Texas
Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Texas.
- Its guide on how to find health insurance in Texas.
- Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.
Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in Texas
Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.
News headlines on Texas health insurance
Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in Texas at Google News or Yahoo News.
Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues
Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11 postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so its not desirable to blanket e-mail them (this type of abuse is why many do not view it favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and dont's.
- Contact the White House
Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
- Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
Locate by using your ZIP Code
Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524
- Senator John Cornyn
PHONE: 202-224-2934 (DC office)
FAX: 202-228-2856 (DC office)
Local offices
Contact by E-mail
- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
PHONE: 202-224-5922 (DC office)
FAX: 202-224-0776 (DC office)
Local offices (scroll down)
Contact by E-mail
- Texas Governor Rick Perry
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
PHONE: (512) 463-2000
FAX: (512) 463-1849
Contact by e-mail
- Contact your Texas State Senator
- Contact your Texas State Representative
USNews health insurance rankings for Texas
US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in Texas.
Official State Goverment Sites with Texas Health Insurance Information
Texas Department of Insurance -- the health care section of the Department's Web site, with consumer information and more.
Texas Children's Health Insurance Program -- state families with uninsured children may be eligible for health coverage through Medicaid and the Texas CHIP. Includes regular checkups and dental care.
Texas Medicaid Program -- the State and Federal cooperative venture that provides medical coverage to eligible needy persons.
Advocacy
Health Care for All Texas -- one out of four people in Texas is uninsured -- the worst in the nation. This group is promoting univeral health care for all Texans, and has a resolution for a ballot initiative on the 2008 Democratic primary in March.
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