One out of every four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest percentage of uninsured residents in any state in the nation, according to new Census Bureau figures.
The findings are part of a report that shows the ranks of the uninsured nationwide swelled by 2.4 million last year as insurance costs kept rising and more Americans lost their jobs and health care coverage.
[...]
Analysts say numerous factors contribute to the high numbers in Texas, including the state's lack of organized labor and a high percentage of Hispanics, some of whom are immigrants and less likely to hold jobs that offer health insurance.
"They have jobs, but they have jobs at the very bottom of the totem pole that provide no benefits whatsoever," said Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University.
But the lagging economy has also taken its toll.
The bureau report shows significant increases in uninsured rates occurred among whites, blacks, people 18 to 24, and middle- and higher-income earners nationwide.
"You have more unemployed people," said E. Dale Wortham, a board member at the Harris County Hospital District. "The other thing is you have people that are employed but cannot afford health insurance."
But Texas, home of Dubya's fake ranch, isn't the only symptom of what's wrong with bogus approaches to healthcare.
Presidential brother and eventual White House candidate Jeb Bush, using the state of Florida as a test case, has a simplistic one-size-fits-all answer to the insurance crisis: tort reform.
