Looks like Healthcare reform is needed in Texas

Posted on September 28th, 2009 by ecthompson md

Wasn’t it the Governor of Texas, Rick “I have great hair” Perry, who declared they didn’t need the federal government? It would seem to me that if you didn’t need the federal government you would be taking care of your own citizens.

From TP:

Over the weekend, thousands of Texans attended what is being called the “largest free clinic ever held in the United States” to get health care they otherwise could not afford. ABC-13, a local Houston station, reported that the event showed that there is an “epidemic” of people without proper health coverage in Texas:

It’s an epidemic here in Texas and Harris County — people without health insurance. On Saturday, the uninsured lined up to get their needs met.

More than 2,000 people came to Reliant Center to see doctors for free. Many of the people we talked to can’t afford health insurance, especially in the rough economy. Some say it shows the need for health care reform.

Numerous patients described their experience with the broken U.S. health care system to ABC-13:

“My foot was turned upside down,” said patient Lillian Beverly. Beverly has had trouble walking since she took a bad fall three months ago. “I really don’t have the money to keep going to doctors and doctors,” she said.

Kevin Braggs is worried about his diabetes. “I’ve been without insurance for six months,” said Braggs.

And Vicki Robinson wants to keep her son’s asthma under control, but she says it’s difficult. “My husband’s lost his job. We’ve gone through our savings,” said Robinson.

And nine-year-old Kempton knows it. “We can’t afford medicine,” he said.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the physicians who worked at the clinic this weekend,compared what he saw there to the post-Katrina crisis:

DR. OZ: We had no idea the overwhelming response we would have, the cries for help from the city of Houston and the state of Texas. … This is the largest health mobilization in Houston since Katrina. So a national disaster which brought out this kind of response is now paralleled by a national disaster, because this is just an average day in Houston, and there are thousands of people who need help.

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics // 2 Comments »

  • Guest

    This is so insane–and so indicative of our health care system in the US.  This is also the third time this has happened in the US this year.  There was one for two and a half days in Virginia and one in California.  It’s crazy.  We’re desperate.  The insurance companies are crushing us.  We need s single-payer plan and we need the Fed gov’t insurance option, period.

  • Guest

    It has to be a federal program not a state program.The states are already allowed to determine what is paid for and what isn’t with Medicaid and Medicare. It shouldn’t be up to the state’s budget on what gets cut. In Utah they have added 40,000 more people on Medicaid in the last 3 years and they don’t have the budget increase to pay for the coverage. They need another 17 million to get them to the 2010 budget. The legislature can pay for roads and laptops for preschoolers but not for healthcare for the poorest people. They were told to find it in their budget.  Reduce what the providers get paid and to cut services even more.  The federal program now needs to watch for fraud and vigilant in this but not at the expense of the honest.

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