Texas healthcare system withering under Gov. Perry

[spanone]

Reporting from San Angelo, Texas— When Texas went to court last year to block President Obama's healthcare overhaul, Gov. Rick Perry pledged to do everything in his power to "protect our families, taxpayers and medical providers." Texas, he said, could manage its own healthcare.

But in the 11 years the Republican presidential hopeful has been in office, working Texans increasingly have been priced out of private healthcare while the state's safety net has withered, leaving millions of state residents without medical care.

"Texas just hasn't proven it can run a health system," said Dr. C. Bruce Malone III, an orthopedic surgeon and president of the historically conservative Texas Medical Assn.

More than a quarter of Texans lack health insurance, the highest rate in the nation, placing a crushing burden on hospitals and doctors who treat patients unable to pay.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-perry-healthcare-20110908,0,5504019.story

[w8liftinglady]

1. as a nurse who sees this firsthand, I agree.

And I'll go a step further. I have seen in my practice too many young Texans( 20's and 30's) with work-related injuries that went untreated(no sick time)..resulting in severe wounds and infections...requiring hospitalization.many of Texas' private industries have no benefits or work their staff below full-time so that they don't have to provide benefits.I've seen too many patients who have to pick and choose their meds because they can't afford them all...leading to strokes and worsening kidney failure.
Universal healthcare would be SO MUCH cheaper in the long run.

[Tippy]

2. Rick Perry is a pawn of the Republican Party...They are playing him like a fiddle...