Health Care
Other issues just don’t mean much if we aren’t healthy. That’s why health care is such an essential priority for our community and our state.
In Texas, those in control of the legislature must decide whether they’ll seize a historic opportunity to help our neighbors and families get the health coverage they need, while at the same time fueling our economy and recouping billions of the federal tax dollars we’ve sent to Washington; or, instead, whether they’ll cling to the same mistakes that have left Texas with one of the highest rates of uninsured in the nation.
In Travis County, I’ve proposed 10 Goals in 10 Years to help all of us live longer, better and more prosperously by investing in our community’s health. These goals will help us build a medical school, a modern teaching hospital, cutting-edge research resources near our universities, and uniquely Austin health clinics in our communities.
Those goals – and my focus on healthcare, culminated in the formation of Proposition 1, which assessed a small property tax increase to pay for transformative changes to our healthcare delivery system:
- Providing new options and increase access for the insured and uninsured.
- Promotig cutting-edge products and technologies to supercharge our economy.
- Offering help to those who currently have to seek treatment in Houston, Dallas and other cities.
- Exploring public-private partnerships to overcome challenges.
- Creating, by one estimate, roughly 15,000 permanent jobs and close to $2 billion in economic activity.
I was proud that, on November 6, 2012, this wise investment in our health, economy and future passed with nearly 55 percent of the vote. It will help all of us lead longer and healthier lives and make our region more prosperous.