Gilbert: Texans Being Failed By Their Governor

TYLER—Hank Gilbert (D-Whitehouse), Democratic candidate for Texas Governor, released the following statement Wednesday morning in response to the report released yesterday by Families USA, a bipartisan consumer watchdog, on health insurance premiums in Texas:

The announcement that health insurance premiums have risen in Texas by almost 100% since 2000 comes as no surprise to Texans who have been constantly burdened by persistently increasing premiums and ever declining coverage. Once again, Governor Perry’s policy of letting the industry regulate itself has failed Texans miserably.

Health insurance has become so expensive in Texas that more than 300,000 households the Census Bureau considers ‘high-income’ households can’t even afford to pay the premiums.

Of course, Texans are used to being failed by their Governor on a consistent basis. It’s why more than 60% of Texans voted for someone else in the 2006 election.

It’s sad that the insurance burden consistently falls on the poor and middle class in this state while they struggle every day just to get by—with no help from Governor Perry or his lobbyist appointees at the Texas Department of Insurance.

This is just one reason I will fight to make the Texas Insurance Commissioner an elected official accountable to the people when I am Governor.

FACT SHEET: Status Quo Isn’t An Option For Health Insurance In Texas

• The number of uninsured Texans has increased from 4.9 million in 2001 to 6.1 million in 2008. The percent of non-elderly adults with out insurance rose from 27.8 percent to 32.1 percent. This number only considers people who are uninsured for an entire year and doesn’t include many Texans who have lost their health coverage as a result of the recession. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

• Employer-based health plans in Texas are quickly disappearing. The percentage of employer-based health coverage decreased from 63.3 percent of the state’s population in 2001 to 55.6 percent in 2008. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

• 3.4 million Texas workers are without health insurance. The percentage of Texas workers without health insurance rose from 25.6 percent in 2001 to 29.7 percent in 2008. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).

• Being uninsured isn’t just a problem for the poor. An additional 361,000 people from homes considered “high-income” households by the census bureau are now uninsured in Texas. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

• The current Texas Insurance Commissioner, Mike Geeslin, (a former staffer for Governor Perry), is such a pro-insurance lapdog that a leading insurance industry trade group publicly applauded his reappointment in 2005. (SOURCE: Insurance Journal, June 7, 2005; LINK).