By: TAHP | Sunday, October 4, 2020

By: Jamie Dudensing

Today marks 100 days until the beginning of Texas’ 87th Legislative Session. Last year, we had great success advocating for and passing several pieces of legislation that protect Texans from the high costs of surprise billing, expensive drug prices, and price gouging at freestanding emergency rooms, but our fight for more affordable, comprehensive health care isn’t over.

The COVID-19 crisis poses unprecedented challenges to Texas and our nation, touching every facet of American life. In the face of these challenges, Texas health insurance providers and Medicaid managed care plans are taking decisive action to help patients and curb the spread of the virus, including proactively eliminating patient cost sharing for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and treatment, waiving cost sharing for telehealth services and expanding telehealth programs, and fully covering the doctor visits and treatments needed to recover from this disease.

The COVID-19 crisis has reminded us about the value of affordable health insurance coverage and the peace of mind it brings to Texas families. Every Texan deserves access to affordable, high-quality health coverage, but health care is unaffordable for too many families. Today, healthcare works for millions of Texans. But healthcare prices have been a financial burden for too many families for too long. A broken bone shouldn’t break the bank. That’s why we need to improve what’s working and fix what’s not. Now is the time for Texas to focus on bringing down health care costs for everyone, regardless of how much money they make, whether they have pre-existing conditions, or where they get their care and coverage. We need to focus on proven, free market solutions that improve what’s working and fix what’s broken to achieve affordable, high-quality health coverage for every Texan. During the 87th Session, the Texas Association of Health Plans will be fighting to reduce health care costs and to make sure all Texans have access to high-quality health care they can afford no matter how much money they make or if they have pre-existing conditions — more choices, better quality, and lower costs.

We hope you’ll join us in our mission to improve the lives of Texans and strengthen health care in Texas through policy advocacy.

Learn more about TAHP’s advocacy efforts and Texas health insurance providers’ responses to COVID-19 here, and make sure to check out our news page to stay up to date on what TAHP and our members are doing to ensure all Texans have access to the care they need at prices they can afford.