AUSTIN — The cost of health care has been rising in the United States for decades, with Texas having the highest rate of increase.
Texas political leaders say lack of competition, transparency and customer buy-in has allowed the costs associated with health care to skyrocket.
State Reps. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, and Morgan LaMantia, D-South Padre Island, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, spoke at the annual Texas Tribune Festival, often called TribFest, on Saturday. They said that in addition to addressing issues with pharmaceutical companies, lawmakers can do more to incentivize patients to pay attention to costs and be thoughtful in their health care decisions.
Texas continues to have one of the highest percentages of uninsured people in the country at 17%, according to recent data, and those with employer plans are spending larger shares of their income on obtaining insurance, according to recent reports.
Johnson said there is no one quick fix to this issue because health care is a complex system, but state lawmakers recognize that they need to find ways to bring costs down.
“I don’t think there is an answer, I think there are a thousand answers … and we’re talking about some of them,” Johnson said.
One solution proposed by LaMantia during the regular legislative session is to expand primary care access through qualified health centers, which provide comprehensive services to unserved communities.
LaMantia said access to quality health care is one of the largest barriers because of the cost and time it takes to visit a doctor.
For those without insurance, it is nearly impossible, she said. Therefore, individuals wait until the last minute or for health problems to reach critical levels before visiting an emergency room, where the outcomes could be more severe, she said.
This, LaMantia said, causes the health care system to spend far more in care than if preventive measures were in place. She proposed the state make a greater effort to put forth low-cost care options as a means to save money and lower costs, similar to what she established in her south Texas community.
“What we saw was (community members were) using health care; they were taking what they were learning from the doctor and actually putting it into practice. …And because of that, we saw huge declines in our costs,” LaMantia said.
Another option, lawmakers said, could be an insurance cost-sharing program where employers pay one-third, the employee pays one-third and the state pays one-third. LaMantia said this is an option that would help small-business owners that cannot afford to offer employee-sponsored health insurance.
LaMantia also said there needs to be greater effort to educate Texans on when and for what problems they should visit certain medical facilities or providers. For example, costs can be higher if a patient visits a hospital when they could have visited their primary care physician instead.
Frank said he would support greater competition in health care as a means to bring down costs.
“When you have hospitals as the dominant market positions or insurers with dominant market positions, they can charge whatever they want,” Frank said. “I am pro-competition … because you get better outcomes.”