On Tuesday, September 1, the Texas House Select Committee on Health Care Affordability held a reading to find ways to lower the state’s medical costs.
In his opening remarks, commission chair James Frank (R-Wichita Falls ) claimed Texas “overpays for care” and that the incentive structure was to blame. He claims that” customers are given little organization in shopping because prices lack clarity.”
He continued,” No party has been able to reduce healthcare costs on their own… we may be able to work across party traces.”
The direct primary care ( DPC ) model, where patients pay a monthly membership fee to a doctor rather than taking out health insurance, was praised by several witnesses.
The Direct Primary Care Coalition’s see, Scott Burns, claimed that while the DPC unit can handle “80 to 90 %” of health problems, it “may not function” in remote areas because it makes it difficult for them to compete for doctors against larger areas. According to Burns, the top goal should be facilitating the launch of a process.
Due to stifling rules and papers, he said,” It is so difficult for us to discover people.”
The condition has been dealing with the lack of access to healthcare in remote locations for a long time. One in five rural Texas counties “did not have a registered primary care physician,” according to Rural Texas Strong in 2024.
Over the next five years, Texas will be allocated$ 1.4 billion in federal funding to support significant rural care activities.
According to another witness, Lane Aiena of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, more modest, separate, smaller techniques were being squeezed by increased costs, papers, and regulations.
Medical money was also a significant subject of discussion. The Texas Hospital Association’s president and CEO, John Hawkins, claimed that institutions are paying the most for the cost increase. In his opinion,” [e]ven after the state’s supplemental payments, Texas hospitals absorbed$ 9 billion in completely unreimbursed Medicaid and uninsured costs in 2025 alone.”
At the reading, businessman Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, presented a five-point strategy to lower drug prices. These were intended to “let patients shop, regulate the contracts, make the economics people, destroy the gag clauses, and generate repeat offenders face issues that actually matter,” he said.
” Would those five things, and Texas will conserve taxpayers, employers, and people a lot of money,” Cuban said. ” I promise it.”
Gov. Texas has mentioned care in some of its provincial campaigns. Governor Greg Abbott and state representative Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin ) discuss the issue in their culture, which is centered on affordability. State Representative Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin ), who is challenging Lt. Governor, is in the running for governor. Dan Patrick has suggested using funds from Texas ‘” Rainy Day Fund” to create a state-funded health insurance plan.
