Bill Text: TX HCR80 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to enact legislation establishing a single-payer health care system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-12 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR80 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR80-Introduced.html
86R13432 BPG-D | ||
By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 80 |
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WHEREAS, The United States remains the only developed country | ||
without universal health care, and while it spends more on health | ||
care than other advanced nations, it ranks lowest in life | ||
expectancy and performs poorly on a variety of health outcomes; and | ||
WHEREAS, By 2017, the U.S. was spending about $3.24 trillion | ||
annually on personal health care, representing 17.2 percent of | ||
Gross Domestic Product, despite the fact that 9 percent of U.S. | ||
residents have no health insurance and 26 percent are underinsured | ||
and cannot afford the prohibitively high costs of the care they | ||
need; on average, other high-income countries spend about 40 | ||
percent less per person than the U.S. while achieving better health | ||
outcomes; and | ||
WHEREAS, The U.S. has the world's most bureaucratic health | ||
care system; more than 31 percent of every health care dollar is | ||
spent on paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, corporate profits, and | ||
the like, and because we have more than 1,500 different insurance | ||
plans, our insurance system is extremely complex, fragmented, | ||
dysfunctional, and expensive; hospitals and other health care | ||
providers waste countless hours dealing with insurance claims | ||
departments, a chore that costs the average physician almost | ||
$100,000 per year, according to a recent study; meanwhile, business | ||
owners struggle to afford health insurance for their employees, | ||
workers pay higher premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, and 80 | ||
million people lack adequate health insurance, leaving some | ||
seriously ill patients and their families to beg for help on social | ||
media fund-raising platforms; and | ||
WHEREAS, Single-payer health care, often referred to in the | ||
U.S. as Medicare for All, is designed to significantly improve | ||
health care outcomes while establishing effective cost controls | ||
throughout the health care system; all residents would receive | ||
quality health care as a basic right, from the providers of their | ||
choice, through an insurance system that covers everyone in a | ||
manner comparable to the existing Medicare program for residents 65 | ||
years and older; coverage would include all medically necessary | ||
services, including doctor visits, hospitalization, mental health, | ||
long-term care, prescription drugs, dental, vision, and more, | ||
without the need for co-pays or deductibles; and | ||
WHEREAS, Nearly 30 independent economic analyses have found | ||
that a single-payer system would lower costs; in 2018, a | ||
comprehensive report by the Political Economy Research Institute at | ||
the University of Massachusetts Amherst calculated that Medicare | ||
for All would reduce total health care spending in the U.S. by | ||
nearly 19 percent, relative to the existing system; the most | ||
significant cost savings would occur in the areas of administration | ||
and pharmaceutical pricing, as well as through the establishment of | ||
uniform Medicare rates for hospitals, physicians, and clinics; | ||
additional savings, at least in the initial years, would accrue by | ||
reining in the high levels of waste and fraud that currently prevail | ||
in service provision; and | ||
WHEREAS, Absent systemic change, the Centers for Medicare and | ||
Medicaid Services projects that U.S. health consumption | ||
expenditures will soar to 18.8 percent of GDP by 2026; the | ||
implementation of Medicare for All is projected to reduce the | ||
percentage from 17.2 to 15.8 percent, even after accounting for the | ||
rising cost pressures due to an aging population; moreover, broader | ||
macroeconomic benefits would include improved health outcomes that | ||
raise productivity, promote greater income equality, and increase | ||
job creation, especially by lowering operating costs for small and | ||
medium-sized businesses; and | ||
WHEREAS, Our current health care system is failing millions | ||
of Americans, but Medicare for All can deliver vastly less | ||
expensive care to everyone in a far more fair and efficient manner; | ||
now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact | ||
legislation establishing a single-payer health care system; and, be | ||
it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |