Issue Position: Public Health

Issue Position

The wealthiest nation on earth should also be the healthiest nation on earth. That means access to quality medical treatment and preventative care. This session I am working on a bi-partisan bill that will help us better understand and, consequently, help to decrease, the growing obesity problem in Texas. An estimated 1.8 million adult Texans have been diagnosed with diabetes and another 460,040 adults are believed to be undiagnosed.

Texas has the unfortunate distinction of leading in the number of uninsured residents, many of whom are children and seniors. We need to restore the hundreds of thousands of kids cut off the state's Children's Health Insurance Program, and making sure our state-assisted nursing homes are properly funded. We also must open more neighborhood-based clinics to reduce the burden on our emergency rooms and provide badly needed basic and preventive care.

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