1-1 By: Maxey, Capelo (Senate Sponsor - Ellis) H.C.R. No. 84 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 2001; 1-3 May 1, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Health 1-4 and Human Services; May 4, 2001, reported favorably by the 1-5 following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 4, 2001, sent to printer.) 1-6 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, Federally funded community-based safety-net 1-8 programs, which are specifically designed to assist low-income 1-9 persons without health insurance and those who live in areas that 1-10 lack health care services, play a significant role in the delivery 1-11 of medical care and related services to the large number of 1-12 Americans who cannot afford health insurance; and 1-13 WHEREAS, Texas' large size and shared border with Mexico are 1-14 geographical factors that present the state with unique challenges 1-15 in serving its residents and increase the importance of all types 1-16 of safety-net health care programs; of a total of 254 Texas 1-17 counties, 176 entire counties and an additional 47 partial counties 1-18 are federally designated as medically underserved areas; these 1-19 areas include all but one of the counties along the Rio Grande; and 1-20 WHEREAS, These medically underserved areas are characterized 1-21 by a high percentage of elderly residents, high poverty rates, high 1-22 infant mortality rates, and a lower ratio of primary care providers 1-23 than the national average; furthermore, these areas typically serve 1-24 working poor, minority members, foreign born, or noncitizens who 1-25 rely on community-based safety-net programs for medical care; and 1-26 WHEREAS, Federal safety-net programs are particularly 1-27 important to the four U.S.-Mexico border states, including Texas, 1-28 which rank among the six states with the highest percentage of 1-29 uninsured persons under 65 partly because of the large numbers of 1-30 immigrant households among their populations; such households are 1-31 more than twice as likely to lack health insurance as are 1-32 households of native-born citizens, and a recent study found that 1-33 immigrants and children who arrived between 1994 and 1998 account 1-34 for 59 percent of the growth of the uninsured; and 1-35 WHEREAS, Community health centers are a cost-effective way to 1-36 provide primary and preventive care to populations lacking medical 1-37 care and can reduce the inappropriate use of emergency rooms and 1-38 hospitalizations; and 1-39 WHEREAS, Increasing the number of community health centers 1-40 would be a tremendous benefit for those Texans living in poor and 1-41 underserved communities as well as for the 56 percent of Texas' 1-42 noncitizen residents who are uninsured by providing greater access 1-43 to regular sources of both primary care and preventive health 1-44 services and allowing medical services to target common health 1-45 problems in these populations; now, therefore, be it 1-46 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 1-47 hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States to 1-48 expand the number of and funding for federally funded community 1-49 health centers and other federal community-based safety-net 1-50 programs specifically directed to poor and medically underserved 1-51 communities in states with the highest numbers of uninsured 1-52 residents; and, be it further 1-53 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 1-54 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 1-55 the speaker of the house of representatives, and to the president 1-56 of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of 1-57 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 1-58 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 1-59 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. 1-60 * * * * *