Texas health insurance

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status report:
Texas state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Texas state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Texas officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (23)

• Joe Barton
• Kevin Brady
• Michael Burgess
• Francisco Canseco
• John Carter
• K. Conaway
• John Culberson
• Blake Farenthold
• Bill Flores

• Louis Gohmert
• Kay Granger
• Ralph Hall
• Jeb Hensarling
• Samuel Johnson
• Kenny Marchant
• Michael McCaul
• Randy Neugebauer
• Pete Olson

• Ronald Paul
• Ted Poe
• Peter Sessions
• Lamar Smith
• William Thornberry

Our
Pick

No (9)

• Henry Cuellar
• Lloyd Doggett
• Charles Gonzalez
• Al Green
• Raymond Green
• Rubén Hinojosa
• Sheila Jackson-Lee
• Eddie Johnson
• Silvestre Reyes

how healthy is living in Texas?

Texas is now ranked as the 40th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation, which is a one-place drop from last year's 39th place ranking.

The good news:

• Texas was praised in 2010 for its relatively low rates of both infant mortality and deaths due to cancer.
• Smoking has been on the decline for the past 20 years, and is now down to 17.9 percent of the population, as opposed to 30.6 percent (the listing from 1990).

The bad news:

• Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured population in the country.
• It also has very low rates of both early prenatal care (only 59.7 percent of women receiving care within their first trimester of pregnancy, another last-place ranking) and availability of primary physicians (95.4 physicians per 100,000 members of the population).
• Texas' already high rate of children in poverty has risen in the past year from 23.1 percent to 25.6 percent of the population under the age of 18.
• The obesity rate in Texas is relatively high, at 29.5 percent of the overall population.

Texas' best and worst category rankings:

• Deaths due to cancer – 11th
• Poor physical health days – 15th
• Infant mortality – 17th
• Infectious disease – 45th
• Early prenatal care – 50th
• Uninsured population (25.6 percent) – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Texas.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Texas health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Texas here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Texas, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Texas have a health insurance high risk pool?

Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool
1-888-398-3927

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Texas started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Texas's participation, click here.

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 pool to 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. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find 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 and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Texas.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Texas health insurance guide

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 help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Texas.

Health insurance plan report cards for Texas

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Texas health insurance plan report cards.

Texas government health insurance resources

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.

health care advocacy groups in Texas

Health Care For All Texas – is a grassroots coalition that believes health care is a human right and that every person in the state of Texas deserves access to high-quality health care at an affordable cost.

San Antonio Healthcare-Now Coalition, – an affiliate of the national Healthcare-Now organization, works to achieve universal access to affordable healthcare.