Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Now that the party primaries are behind them, Texas legislators should turn their attention to the critical issues that will be on their agenda when they meet in Austin in January. Although the legislative session is more than eight months away, it will be here sooner than lawmakers might realize, particularly with the November general election still to come.

Among the areas needing the most attention is the number of uninsured Texans. According to Dr. Dan Stultz, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Hospital Association, at least one in four Texans has no health insurance. Along the border, the number of uninsured Texans is one in three. Here in Brazos County, the number is more than 27 percent.

As the price of gas and food climbs ever higher, the number of Texans without health insurance most likely will climb as family budgets get stretched to the limit and beyond.

Eighty percent of the uninsured live in families in which at least one member works. "We're talking about the working poor," Stultz said.

Why should we care? The moral issue aside, the number of uninsured Texans costs all of us. St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan and its outlying facilities provided more than $40 million in charity care last year. It wrote off another $49 million in unpaid bills for treatment of uninsured patients.

Hospitals have to cover costs such as those in other ways. That means those of us who are insured have to make up the difference. Employers who insure their workers or individuals who carry their own health insurance pay an additional $1,500 to $1,800 in premiums to cover the gap caused by uninsured Texans, Stultz said. From 2001 through 2005, health insurance premiums in Texas climbed 40 percent to 45 percent, Stultz said.

If more Texans go uninsured, the rest of us no doubt will end up paying more for our insurance.

There are other costs, as well. Hospital emergency rooms are overcrowded with uninsured Texans seeking treatment for relatively minor ailments or injuries. That can cause delays for people with more serious problems.

There is another growing problem, Stultz said. More and more Texas children are not getting all of their needed vaccinations. Childhood diseases controlled by the vaccines are on the increase because of this, he said.

Lawmakers can't wait for Congress to act. We've been waiting too long for that already. The Legislature must find ways to help more Texans -- particularly children -- get health insurance. Legislators cannot wait until they are in session to begin seeking solutions. The time to start is now.

The health of all Texans is at stake.