Health Care
3/30/2006
Health
Congressman Reyes' views on health care issues.
El Paso has huge needs when it comes to health care. We suffer from disproportionately high levels of poverty and disease, including diabetes, TB, hepatitis, and cancer. Large numbers of El Pasoans are uninsured. We have shortages of nurses, doctors, and other health practitioners, but no shortage of need. We also confront environmental health hazards including lack of adequate drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. In addition, El Paso shoulders the burden of providing health care services to large numbers of uninsured, under-insured, and the undocumented.
To meet these challenges, El Paso needs to support its existing healthcare system while also developing new assets. I am a strong supporter of the healthcare providers that we are fortunate enough to have in El Paso such as Texas Tech University, UTEP, El Paso Community College, the Border Health Institute (BHI), Pan American Health Organization, La Fe, Project Vida, Project Arriba, Fort Bliss, area hospitals and clinics, and individual doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. I worked hard to locate the Border Health Commission (BHC) in El Paso, and helped secure over $11 million for the BHC in the past several years to focus on the many health-related issues on a binational basis. I also helped obtain federal funding for other important healthcare assets in our community, including over $700,000 for the Migrant Health Project administered by Texas Tech and UTEP as well as $667,000 for the La Fe Clinic.
In addition, development of new healthcare assets in El Paso must be accelerated in order to support our community as a major medical center along the U.S. - Mexico border. Of primary importance is establishing a Border Medical Complex in El Paso, which will house a four-year medical school, a Center for Disease Control office, the Border Health Institute, and the BHC. In the past two years, I have helped secure $1.3 million in federal appropriations for the project.
Begun during my first year in Congress, the annual U.S. - Mexico Border Issues Conference brings healthcare issues confronting the U.S. - Mexico border region to the attention of my colleagues in Congress. Also, I have held a Congressional Field Hearing in El Paso regarding the interrelated issues of health and the environment. These kinds of events are essential to drawing additional attention, and therefore funding, to the border region.
I strongly support increased funding for cancer, tuberculosis and diabetes research and education. It is frightening to know that an estimated one in four Hispanics in El Paso over the age of 45 has diabetes. And it's even more disturbing that some 40,000 El Pasoans may have the potentially life-threatening disease, and do not know it. To address these serious problems, over the past five years we in Congress have doubled funding for the National Institutes of Health, which is the primary federal medical research agency.
In addition, I continue to advocate for legislation to provide prescription drug benefits for seniors under Medicare and increased funding and resources for nurses and doctors.
In short, I am committed to bringing additional resources and funds to the healthcare needs of our community, thereby improving the lives of all El Pasoans.
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