By Wohlgemuth, et al.                                H.C.R. No. 139
         77R7080 JXC-F                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The vast majority of Americans covered by health
 1-2     insurance are provided coverage through employer-sponsored group
 1-3     health insurance; and
 1-4           WHEREAS, Health care expenditures made by employers are
 1-5     exempt from taxation, while health care expenditures made by
 1-6     individuals do not receive such favorable treatment; and
 1-7           WHEREAS, Since the United States has a changing workforce
 1-8     that is more mobile, such a system discriminates not only against
 1-9     providers and purchasers of individual health insurance, but also
1-10     against lower-paid, part-time, and small business workers who are
1-11     less likely to be covered by employer-sponsored group health
1-12     insurance but are deterred from purchasing private health insurance
1-13     by its higher cost; and
1-14           WHEREAS, Employer-sponsored health insurance leads
1-15     individuals to rely on their employer rather than themselves for
1-16     health care; and
1-17           WHEREAS, Despite the longest period of sustained economic
1-18     growth in the history of the United States, the number of
1-19     individuals without health insurance remains high, and the number
1-20     of Texans without health insurance is among the highest in the
1-21     United States; and
1-22           WHEREAS, Individual tax credits for the purchase of health
1-23     insurance would restore equity to the tax code, promote consumer
1-24     choice of health plans, encourage health care insurers to be more
 2-1     responsive to consumers, boost competition among providers, and
 2-2     further provide for the portability of health insurance; now,
 2-3     therefore, be it
 2-4           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
 2-5     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
 2-6     provide tax credits to individuals for the purchase of private
 2-7     health insurance; and, be it further
 2-8           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
 2-9     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
2-10     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
2-11     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
2-12     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
2-13     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
2-14     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.