If there is a ground zero for both problems, it is Texas

The Healthcare Crisis Hits Home
Karen Tumulty
TIME Magazine cover story

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1883149-1,00.html

Here's an excerpt that caught my eye...

If there is a ground zero for both problems, it is Texas, where I grew up and where my parents and brothers still live. About 1 in 4 Texans is uninsured, the highest rate in the country. The vast majority of the uninsured — 8 in 10 — live in households in which someone works, typically for a small business. But only 37% of Texas companies with fewer than 50 employees offer medical coverage.

The state's Medicaid program is notoriously stingy. State law requires counties to provide care only to those deemed "indigent," defined as people who earn less than 21% of the federal poverty line, or $2,274 a year for a single adult and $4,630 for a family of four. Many counties, particularly rural ones, do no more than that minimum. So Texas — a state with relatively little regulation of the health-insurance industry — is fertile territory for insurance companies selling bare-bones coverage at low prices.

Read the whole article. It may be better where you are, but not by much. Forward this article to your political representatives. Demand better. You may not need it today, but without a doubt, you will need it soon.