Texans favor national
policy
By Claudia Rojo
The Daily Cougar
A recent statewide survey conducted by
the UH Center for Public Policy has found that Texas falls below the national
average in health care with
only 77 percent of Texans having health
insurance coverage — 5 percent lower than the national average.
Hispanics scored low in Texas with only
57 percent of them having health coverage while insurance coverage for
Anglos and African Americans
were high,
88 percent and 77 percent, respectively.
A high percentage of Hispanics also reported
problems with health care issues.
Richard Murray, director of the UH CPP
and a professor of political science, attributes this difference to the
racial/ethnic composition within the
state.
"Very few Hispanic families can purchase
private insurance," Murray said. "It is terribly expensive and family incomes
are lower in that segment
of the population. We need a combination
of government programs such as a limited program for lower-income families
or families with
children or, the extreme universal health
care program which would be an enormous benefit to Hispanic families because
they have such a high
level of under-serving."
In the survey, 72 percent of the respondents
feel that businesses should be required to offer their employees private
health insurance. But the
gap could be narrowed by increasing the
opportunity for small employers to provide health care to their employees
either by a mandate of the
state or by subsidies provided by the
state, Murray said.
While Texans want to keep costs low and
consider the cost of health care the top priority when the Texas Legislature
meets in Austin next
January, 52 percent support a national
health plan which would allow Americans to obtain their insurance from
a single government plan.
"People who want to hold down the cost
of health care also like to see health care insurance extended to more
people," Murray said. "Perhaps
the best way to address the seeming inconsistency
is for the state to take maximum advantage of the federal programs that
provide matching
funds. Texas has begun to use those federal
programs but does not fully exploit them and that is probably the best
that we can do to try to
increase health care coverage for under-served
populations without having state taxpayers bare the full burden."
The survey also shows that Texans place
more importance on jobs and economy than on other issues. While 22 percent
of Texans consider
their jobs and economy as the most important
issue facing them and their families on a daily basis, only 15 percent
of Texans consider health
care as their main priority.
Mary Anne Bobinski, director of the UH
Law Center's Health Law & Policy Institute, stresses the importance
of health care in the Houston area.
"Going without health care may create a
financial burden for charitable institutions and government health care
providers," Bobinski said.
With 7 percent of Texans relying on their
parents' or family's insurance plan, Bobinski says concerns with health
care also extend to UH students
who may soon be losing their eligibility
as dependents under a family plan, she said.
"There are already significant rates of
uninsured students," Bobinski said. "Those who receive health insurance
typically get it through
dependent coverage from their parents'
health care plan. A college student who graduates would no longer be eligible
for their parents'
dependent health insurance coverage and
that person would be looking to find health insurance as a benefit of employment."
The survey will be published in August
and will be the first
in a series. The results will be made available
online at www.uh.edu/cpp/polling.htm.
