Texas squanders $40 billion a year in taxpayer health care contributions

Ken Janda, CEO of Community Health Choice, recently published a piece in which he touched on issues concerning health insurance costs and tax dollars spent on Medicaid and other programs for the poor in Texas. He stressed on the idea of expanding  on  fiscally responsible coverage similar to the Texas-managed Medicaid program.

Ken identified seven areas that impact the cost of health insurance of tax payers in Texas:

1. Texans pay federal taxes designated for part of each states’ health care needs, but these dollars don’t come back home to Texas.
2. Texans pay property taxes that help cover costs for uninsured and underinsured treated at hospital emergency rooms.
3. Texans pay sales taxes instead of income taxes to fund all state services, including health care.
4. Texans pay crippling societal costs for a state with more sick citizens and poor health care.
5. Texans pay higher health care insurance premiums on their own policies due to higher prices charged by providers to offset uncompensated care.
6. Texans who self-fund their own health care pay at least 30 percent more as compared with negotiated insurance rates.
7. Texans pay up to 10.5 percent higher premiums for Marketplace health insurance because Texas refused to expand Medicaid and has not set up its own state-run exchange for health insurance.

Read more: https://www.tribtalk.org/2016/10/13/texas-squanders-40-billion-a-year-in-taxpayer-health-care-contributions/