HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, Federally funded community-based safety-net
1-2 programs, which are specifically designed to assist low-income
1-3 persons without health insurance and those who live in areas that
1-4 lack health care services, play a significant role in the delivery
1-5 of medical care and related services to the large number of
1-6 Americans who cannot afford health insurance; and
1-7 WHEREAS, Texas' large size and shared border with Mexico are
1-8 geographical factors that present the state with unique challenges
1-9 in serving its residents and increase the importance of all types
1-10 of safety-net health care programs; of a total of 254 Texas
1-11 counties, 176 entire counties and an additional 47 partial counties
1-12 are federally designated as medically underserved areas; these
1-13 areas include all but one of the counties along the Rio Grande; and
1-14 WHEREAS, These medically underserved areas are characterized
1-15 by a high percentage of elderly residents, high poverty rates, high
1-16 infant mortality rates, and a lower ratio of primary care providers
1-17 than the national average; furthermore, these areas typically serve
1-18 working poor, minority members, foreign born, or noncitizens who
1-19 rely on community-based safety-net programs for medical care; and
1-20 WHEREAS, Federal safety-net programs are particularly
1-21 important to the four U.S.-Mexico border states, including Texas,
1-22 which rank among the six states with the highest percentage of
1-23 uninsured persons under 65 partly because of the large numbers of
1-24 immigrant households among their populations; such households are
2-1 more than twice as likely to lack health insurance as are
2-2 households of native-born citizens, and a recent study found that
2-3 immigrants and children who arrived between 1994 and 1998 account
2-4 for 59 percent of the growth of the uninsured; and
2-5 WHEREAS, Community health centers are a cost-effective way to
2-6 provide primary and preventive care to populations lacking medical
2-7 care and can reduce the inappropriate use of emergency rooms and
2-8 hospitalizations; and
2-9 WHEREAS, Increasing the number of community health centers
2-10 would be a tremendous benefit for those Texans living in poor and
2-11 underserved communities as well as for the 56 percent of Texas'
2-12 noncitizen residents who are uninsured by providing greater access
2-13 to regular sources of both primary care and preventive health
2-14 services and allowing medical services to target common health
2-15 problems in these populations; now, therefore, be it
2-16 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-17 hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States to
2-18 expand the number of and funding for federally funded community
2-19 health centers and other federal community-based safety-net
2-20 programs specifically directed to poor and medically underserved
2-21 communities in states with the highest numbers of uninsured
2-22 residents; and, be it further
2-23 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
2-24 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
2-25 the speaker of the house of representatives, and to the president
2-26 of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of
2-27 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
3-1 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
3-2 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
Maxey
Capelo
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 84 was adopted by the House on
April 27, 2001, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 84 was adopted by the Senate on May
15, 2001, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________________
Date
__________________________
Governor