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Health Care
"With over 230,000 people in El Paso without health coverage, expanding access to quality, affordable health care is essential. We can no longer accept the status quo." -Congressman Silvestre Reyes
Congressman Silvestre Reyes has strongly supported the development of El Paso's health care facilities and other efforts to expand access to quality, affordable health care. In 2009, Congressman Reyes successfully secured the authorization of nearly $1 billion in the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill to construct a new state-of-the-art William Beaumont Army Medical Center campus that will serve Fort Bliss troops, their dependents, and veterans.
In September 2009, Reyes brought U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to El Paso to visit the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in an effort to push for additional resources for both the school and for the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation. Following the visit, Congressman Reyes worked closely with Majority Leader Hoyer and others to include a funding provision in the Health Care for America Act that would allocate $100 million each year through 2015 to the Department of Health and Human Services to fund grants to develop medical schools in "professional shortage areas," such as El Paso. These grants would have the potential to accelerate the development of El Paso's medical school and expand critical services for residents. Reyes is a strong supporter of community health centers such as Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Centro San Vicente, Project Vida that provide quality, affordable health care to those who need it most.
Congressman Reyes has strongly supported efforts to increase physician reimbursements rates to prevent seniors from losing access to their regular physicians and prevent further shortages of doctors in the community. In November 2009, he voted in favor of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, which will permanently reform the Medicare payment system, repealing a 21% cut in payments to doctors scheduled to take place in January 2010 and replacing it with a stable system attached to the Medicare economic index.
Our community faces many health care challenges. El Paso has one of the highest concentrations of America's uninsured population, with over 230,000 without health coverage. Our community suffers from disproportionately high levels of poverty and disease, including diabetes, TB, hepatitis, and cancer. We have shortages of nurses, doctors, and other health practitioners, yet the needs of the community continue to grow. El Paso shoulders much of the burden of providing health care services to such a large number of uninsured, under-insured, and the undocumented. In fact, since 1998, El Paso property tax payers have spent over $400,000,000 to pay for treatment and services for thoese patients who could not afford to pay their medical bills at University Medical Center of El Paso.
To meet these challenges, Congressman Reyes is working to support the development and expansion of existing healthcare assets in El Paso. He helped establish 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 border health issues. He has also secured millions of dollars over the years for other important healthcare assets in our community, including the Migrant Health Project administered by Texas Tech and UTEP, as well as for University Medical Center, and El Paso's community health centers.
Access to quality, affordable health care is critical to the well being of America, today and in the future. Central to this is addressing the needs of the 46 million uninsured Americans, strengthening the Medicare system, providing health insurance to our low-income children, funding cutting-edge research into cures for diseases, and giving patients the clout to challenge the decisions of health insurers. Only through action on these critical issues can we meet the pressing health care concerns of our nation.
Legislation in the 111th Congress
H.R. 2 - the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2009 (Signed into law February 4, 2009)
In this recession, SCHIP is critically important for the nation, particularly for Texas and our border. I am deeply troubled that Texas has the highest number of uninsured children in the United States. It is simply unacceptable to have one in five children in our state without health insurance. Our district has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the country, and the current economic recession is making it even harder for many more families to afford health insurance. Recent studies estimate that for every one percent increase in our national unemployment rate, 1.1 million Americans lose health insurance and more than a million enroll in Medicaid and SCHIP.
Having a large number of uninsured children in our communities places a tremendous financial burden on parents and local hospitals, as families are forced to send their children to the emergency room because they cannot afford a visit to their doctor. The cost of health care is increasing, and reauthorizing SCHIP for the next four and a half years is an important first step in stemming the rising tide of the uninsured.
The new law provides sufficient federal funds to help states maintain their current programs and extend coverage to four million additional uninsured low-income children. Many states will experience much higher enrollment in SCHIP than previously anticipated due to job losses and lower incomes. A number of these states would have been unable to meet the higher public demand for SCHIP without the relief provided in this law. By reauthorizing the program, we help states meet increased demand for SCHIP-enrollment and prevent them from cutting back on the program just when families need it the most.
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