IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 64 

Commending efforts in Texas to reduce the number of uninsured individuals 

and encouraging other States to adopt similar solutions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 14, 2009 

Mr. NEUGEBAUER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Commending efforts in Texas to reduce the number of uninsured individuals and encouraging other States to adopt 

similar solutions. 

Whereas all Americans should have access to affordable, 

high-quality health care services; 

Whereas more than 46 million Americans, or 16 percent of 

the United States population, do not have health insurance, and nearly 5.5 million people in Texas, or 25 percent of the Texas population, are without health insurance, which ranks Texas as the State with the largest 

number of uninsured individuals; 

Whereas the uninsured usually do not have a primary care 

physician and rely on emergency room care for medical 

treatment, and costs for primary and preventive care are 

much less than costs for emergency room care; 


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•HRES 64 IH 

Whereas the future of health care in the United States will 

need innovative solutions to increase access to affordable 

health care for the growing population; 

Whereas health care decisions are best made between a patient and his or her doctor and not by a government bureaucrat, and competition among providers of health care 

services and an abundance of choices for patients are 

vital components to the long-term stability of the health 

care system; 

Whereas the Texas legislature passed S.B. 10 in 2003, which 

allowed the formation of health group cooperatives and 

coalitions; 

Whereas the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce collaborated 

with Covenant Health Systems and UMC Health System 

to develop the Lubbock Chamber Employer Health Plan 

(the ‘‘Plan’’); 

Whereas the Plan is available to all Chamber members to 

purchase health insurance and provides small- and medium-sized businesses and their employees with the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of membership in a large 

group health insurance plan; 

Whereas the Plan initially enrolled 275 groups and 3,156 individuals in May 2006 and now provides health insurance 

to more than 1,000 groups and more than 10,000 individuals; and 

Whereas of those covered by the Plan, approximately 20 percent were previously uninsured: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) commends the State of Texas for passing 

3 S.B. 10; 


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•HRES 64 IH 

1 (2) commends the Lubbock Chamber of Com2 merce for actively working to reduce the number of 

3 uninsured individuals in Texas and developing a suc4 cessful health care plan that has benefitted more 

5 than 10,000 individuals in the Lubbock area; 

6 (3) encourages other chambers of commerce or 

7 similar groups in Texas to develop a health group 

8 cooperative to provide access to affordable health 

9 care to all Texans; and 

10 (4) encourages other States to study the Texas 

11 model and adopt similar, empowering health care so12 lutions. 

Æ 


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