Everything is bigger in Texas and that includes the numbers of people without comprehensive health insurance. Whether it’s total numbers or highest percentage of uninsured, the Lone Star State stands with the worst of them. And if republicans in Washington, DC, have anything to say about it, Texas will likely keep that lead and remain the undisputed king of the uninsured, by kicking as many people as possible off whatever health insurance they’ve managed to find in droves, and pricing those who need it the most out of the market and right into an early grave:
It’s unclear whether the latest version of Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act will garner enough support from moderate Republicans to pass the House. But what’s certain is the measure could have a major impact on Texas as a new amendment would allow states to opt out of key Obamacare regulations governing how much insurers can charge people with pre-existing conditions and the services they must offer. … But critics, already concerned over previous findings that the American Health Care Act would result in millions of low-income Americans dropping coverage, worry the changes could mean states like Texas return to pre-ACA days when people with pre-existing conditions suffered.
Our for-profit healthcare system was already a wholesale serial killer before Obamacare. If unleashed and allowed to prey again, as baby boomers and generation X continue to age, it will be even more deadly. People will die from a host of conditions common to middle age, many of which are are easily treated, especially when detected early. The Grim Reaper will harvest a bumper crop in Texas and in other GOP controlled states, thanks to the age-old, usual killers; high blood pressure and cardio-pulmonary conditions, auto-immune disease, complications of diabetes, cancer, maybe even colds, flu, and simple, untreated infections will make a comeback and residents will begin dropping like flies the way they did a century ago. Or as conservatives like to call it, the good old days.