ANALYSIS: Rick Perry Dodges Questions on Health Care, as Texas Falls Behind
iWatch News, The Center for Public Integrity—December 8th, 2011
Perry has bragged that doctors have flocked to Texas since 2003 because of the medical malpractice damage caps and that those caps have help control health care costs in the state.
On Tuesday, however, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen released a study that debunks those claims.
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The other study that came out this week that Perry undoubtedly hopes no one will notice came from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The AAMC reported that Texas ranks 48th in the number of active patient primary care physicians per 100,000 population. There are just 62 primary care doctors per 100,000 people in Texas compared to the national median of 80.
Citing the AAMC report, Alex Winslow, executive director of the citizen advocacy organization Texas Watch, said that, “Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the data proves that Texas continues to fall far behind in access to health care. Texas patients need meaningful reforms that improve the cost, quality and access to health care — not empty rhetoric and hollow promises.”
Read More: iWatch News, The Center for Public Integrity
