Horns Down: Texas failing in healthcare measures
Texas is sinking to the bottom in measures of national health care quality according to a study by the Dallas-based American College of Emergency Physicians released Thursday. Currently, Texas ranks 47th in access to emergency care, 42nd in quality care and patient safety, and 38th in failing to support emergency patients. Texas also ranks 49th in public health and injury prevention caused by “extremely high rates of obesity and cyclist and pedestrian fatalities” according to a Dallas Morning News blog. How many times does our state have to get a rough wake-up call in terms of health care? We have consistently ranked near the bottom in terms of mental-health funding, and in 2012 the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ranked Texas last in “delivery of health services.” Our state’s rankings are embarrassing at best, and highly negligent — if not dangerous — at worst. It’s high time we saw some change.
Horns Up: Texas to gain influence in national elections
Everywhere you look in urban Texas these days, the signs of growth are plain as day. Be it in the increasingly long lines of cars on freeways or the new housing developments springing up all across the landscape, the changes are hard to miss. Some of that growth is from the traditional gone-to-Texas set, but much of the growth in population is coming from newborns upending the old bumper-sticker slogan, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.” Together, those forces are adding around 400,000 new people to the Census Bureau’s population estimate every year and increasing the state’s share of seats in Congress. According to a map just released by Ravi Parikh, a co-founder of the analytics firm Heap, Texas is expected to gain two new House of Representatives seats (and electoral votes) by 2030 and a total gain of six by 2060. While we might not agree with all the future legislators’ political views, we’re sure they would fight for greater funds for Texas and work to ensure a robust state economy for years to come.
