On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended the Healthcare Roundtable at Dallas County Health and Human Services. Rep. In Pelosi. Colin Allred, a local healthcare leader, and North Texans joined in to tell their personal healthcare stories.
“On my very first day in Congress, I led the charge to protect the Affordable Care Act from a reckless lawsuit in federal court, and today I was honored to welcome Speaker Pelosi to Dallas to meet with the North Texans and discuss the progress we have made. And work from the bottom of the list eliminating issues that aren’t worth the fight. ” “Whether it’s the high cost of health insurance or prescription drugs, or Texas’ failure to expand Medicaid – healthcare is something I hear from in North Texans.”
The panel includes Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Dallas County Director of Health and Human Services Dr. Join Phil Huang, chief development officer of the Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, Joelin Bagwell, alumni engagement director in the nurse-family partnership, and Ashley Watson. Accompanying him were Shane Thompson and George Nolan, both from Garland, who shared their stories about the high cost of prescription drugs, such as insulin.
There is strong public support for lowering the price of prescription drugs, but Congress has struggled to pass legislation to address the issue. Democrats’ proposed build-back better agenda included a plan to curb spending, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) later said he would not support the bill, eliminating the possibility in the 50-50 Senate. Manchin has recently hinted that he may support a slim-down version of the bill that would include prescription drug improvements, although some progressives doubt that Manchin is actually willing to reduce the deal.
The expansion of Medicaid was also a major topic of discussion; Texas has one of the highest rates and uninsured residents in the country and is one of only 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid. “If we expand Medicaid here, it will increase life-saving coverage to 1 million Texans, 1 million Texans,” Allred said.
The director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, Dr. Phil Huang expressed concern about the new COVID-19 variant. BA.2, a subvariant of Omicron which is currently on the rise in Europe and Asia. “We still have a lot of people who have not been vaccinated yet. And, again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes. We hope it stays down, “said Huang. “But if a new type emerges, we need more testing. We’ve been here before and we thought we’d find a way out. ” The American Rescue Plan paid for trials, vaccinations and treatment of uninsured Kovid patients, but health care leaders are now worried as they run out of funds.