Covid-19 in the United States: the suffering of the uninsured in Texas
An ambulance at Texas Medical Center in Houston, June 28, 2020. (Illustration) REUTERS / Callaghan O'Hare
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The US Census Bureau released the 2019 figure for the number of Americans without health insurance. A figure that has been increasing since 2016, and the arrival in the White House of Donald Trump, after having been in continuous decline since 2010, under Barack Obama .
The country has just over 9% of people without insurance on average, but Texas continues to have the highest rate of any United States: 18% of people in this state are uninsured.
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With our correspondent in Houston
,
Thomas Harms
More than 5 million people do not have health insurance in Texas and among them one in five inhabitants of Houston (19.7% of the population).
But that doesn't surprise Diana L. Fite, the president of the Texas Medical Association.
“
We have consistently had the highest rate of uninsured people in the country over the past decade.
This calculation is in fact based on the information recorded before the pandemic.
We actually think it is higher than that because people have lost their jobs and their insurance
”.
Nearly a million people have lost their jobs in Texas since February, and in the United States, it is work that qualifies for insurance.
But according to economics professor Vivan HO, the Trump administration also bears its share of responsibility.
“
Once Trump took office, the number of uninsured increased everywhere.
Before, the law said you had to pay a penalty if you didn't have health insurance.
And this penalty has been removed
.
"
Of the 19.7% without insurance in Houston, the majority earn a little more than minimum wage, but are not eligible for state assistance and do not earn enough to afford health coverage.
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