The Legacy Foundation will actively seek to fund programs that increase the number of people covered by health insurance and provide solutions to knock down existing barriers to healthcare.
In the lower Rio Grande Valley among adults age 18 to 64 years, 41% report having no insurance coverage for healthcare expenses. This is much higher than Texas in general (26.8%) and more than twice the national average. As might be expected, those without insurance are much less likely to receive routine care or preventive screenings, resulting in either:
- a total lack of care,
- periodic trips to the emergency room which is expensive and much less efficient from a health system perspective, or
- expensive treatments for advanced diseases and conditions that could have been caught and treated much earlier.
Furthermore, barriers to access have prevented medical care due to causes such as:
- the cost of a doctor’s visit,
- the cost of a prescription,
- inconvenient office hours,
- ability to get an appointment,
- finding a doctor, and
- lack of transportation.