In Texas, More People Are Losing Their Health Insurance as COVID Cases Climb

From a story by Ashley Lopez of Public Radio station KUT in Austin (and picked up by Kaiser Health Network):

Texas’ uninsured rate has been climbing along with its unemployment rate as COVID cases also surge in the state. Before the pandemic, Texas already had the highest rate and largest number of people without insurance among all states. And 20% of all uninsured children in the U.S. live in Texas.

The uninsurance problem has only gotten worse in Texas in 2020. According to recent data from Families USA, a consumer health advocacy group that supported the Affordable Care Act, 29% of Texas adults under 65 don’t have health insurance so far this year.

The group found that about 659,000 people in the state became uninsured between February and May as job losses soared. Texas is one of 13 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.

Thirty-seven states and D.C. have expanded Medicaid eligibility in response to a generous federal match under the ACA -- and that doesn't include Missouri, where voters are voting on Tuesday on Medicaid expansion. Texas is one of the holdouts, for reason that defy logic. We'll see if it continues to defy politics in November. In recent decades we've been a resolutely red state in statewide and presidential elections. Is this the year the politicians who have turned their backs on the poor and disabled individuals in this state are held to account for their heedless, heartless actions?