The Dark, Dismal Future Of Public Health Care In Texas

The Dark, Dismal Future Of Public Health Care In Texas: Health Commissioner Claims High Rates of Uninsured Are a Myth


Written by Andrea Grimes for RH Reality Check . This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post.


The new executive commissioner of Texas' Health and Human Services Department -- the social services behemoth that's currently in the process of building a whole new Texas Women's Health Program (WHP) so it can exclude Planned Parenthood from providing contraceptives and cancer screenings to low-income Texans -- has some interesting views on the condition of public health care in his state. And by "interesting," I mean shocking. I mean shockingly ignorant. Astounding, even.

Dr. Kyle Janek is an anesthesiologist by training, but for the last 18 years has served as a Republican in the Texas Legislature and as a lobbyist for various medical organizations. Governor Rick Perry appointed him as executive commissioner of the Texas HHSC on September 1st. You might expect that in 18 years of being plugged into Texas politics and state health policy, he'd have a decent grasp on the issues facing Texans.

You'd be wrong. Because Kyle Janek doesn't believe -- despite credible, widely accepted evidence to the contrary -- that one of Texas' most pressing health problems, its high number of uninsured adults, is real. He doesn't believe that more than a quarter of Texans are uninsured , as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau. He told a Texas Tribune reporter in early October that he believed that number to be "inflated," and then reiterated his point in an extended interview with Tribune editor Evan Smith on October 31st. (Through his press representatives, he refused an interview with RH Reality Check .) Here's his most recent take via the Tribune:

"It's not that I don't believe those numbers. I don't believe the reasoning for those numbers." ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/rhrealitycheck/dark-dismal-future-public-health-care-texas-health-commissioner-claims-high