Contact: Melissa Segrest, (512) 499-4363

Date: December 8, 2004

UT System News Media Advisory

Task Force Meets to Study Health Care in Texas

A 19-member task force studying the impact of the uninsured and underinsured on Texas, as well as Texans' access to health care, will meet Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 14-15, in Austin. The meetings on both days will be held on the 9th floor of Ashbel Smith Hall, 201 W. 7th St.

This will be the second meeting of the task force, sponsored by 10 academic health institutions across the state. The task force is comprised of health financing experts, insurers, policy specialists and experts from the fields of nursing, public health, hospitals, small and large employers and consumers.

TUESDAY, Dec. 14

The daylong session begins at 9:30 a.m.

Among the speakers will be Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst speaking on health care challenges in Texas and Eduardo Sanchez, Commissioner of State Health Services, speaking on the challenge of the uninsured in Texas. Other topics of discussion will be public programs to improve health coverage, increasing access to care and the role of community health centers.

Other speakers will include Dianne Longley, the director of special projects for the Texas Department of Insurance; Anne Dunkelberg, the assistant director for the Center for Public Policy Priorities; Camille Miller, president and CEO of the Texas Institute for Health Policy Research; and Jose Camacho, executive director of the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.

Also on the agenda is a discussion of increasing access to care by James Walton, senior vice president of the Health Texas Provider Network; Travis Froelich, Ascension Health senior vice president; Charles E. Begley, professor of management and policy sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and Ronald Cookston, director of Gateway to Care, a Harris County community access collaborative.

A period for public comment is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 15

Wednesday's meeting will be a closed working session for the task force.

The task force will meet three more times around the state to study the efforts being made across Texas to cope with the growing problem of the uninsured and underinsured. It will also commission papers on the experiences of other states and how to maximize the application of federal resources in Texas.

You can find out more information on the task force online.

UT System News: Joint Study of Texans' Access to Health Care Begins (9/30/04)

A UT System Feature: Caring for All Texans