MAIN POINT: The Texas Legislature should do more to help higher education, not hurt it

Jun 17 2009 - 3:06pm | University Star Editorial Board

EDIT: Gov. Rick Perry vetoed HB 103.

A lot has been written about this session, and from people more experienced in state politics. However, anyone can see this session was filled with little more than political posturing.

University students should be used to the legislature failing to address their problems, but they should at least expect their chosen representatives to not make life harder for them. However, the legislature failed in even that regard.

House Bill 103 passed. The bill forces student health centers across the state to accept private insurance, effectively ending the free trips to the Student Health Center.

The problem is 25 to 30 percent of Texas State students are without health care. The health center provided them an option to be treated without having to worry about accruing heavy costs. At a time when more people go into bankruptcy because of medical costs than any other reason, according to the journal Health Affairs, Rep. Fred Brown, R-14, thought it was appropriate to put more costs on university students. This can only lead to more university students having to cut costs, drop out or file for bankruptcy themselves.

The justification Brown used for writing the bill was for the state to save money. This is the type of backward logic that has crippled politics for so long. With more students having to drop out or receive further costs because of medical reasons that will lead to more people having to use Medicaid, welfare and other state services. If Texas graduates more individuals from universities, this will lead to a stronger economy and more well-employed people who pay their taxes and contribute to the system.

Students lose, taxpayers lose, health centers lose: So who’s the winner in all of this?

That should be obvious: the insurance companies.

There is no other entity benefitting from this new system. University students’ lives are going to be more complicated, they are going to have to spend more money and they are going to be unhealthier. It is a deal only AIG and its ilk could be happy with.

These are tough economic times. The state legislature had a real opportunity to stand up and say “we are Texans and we do what’s necessary.”

Instead they epically faltered. Not only were proposed tuition increase caps not passed, but this legislature voted to hurt education in Texas. They voted to have a less healthy, educated and prosperous population.

That is why the state legislature gets an F. There is only one hope left: for Gov. Rick Perry to veto the legislation. If he does not then Texas will be feeling the effects of this bill for a long time.

Stories related to this article:

http://star.txstate.edu/search/node/HB%20103

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