Improving Healthcare in Austin

Providing access to affordable health care has been a goal that some organizations in Austin have struggled to make available.  The State of Texas has decided not to participate in the Medicaid expansion that is part of the Affordable Care Act and instead chose to pass up access to billions of dollars that could have helped alleviate the strain on current resources. In the meanwhile, Central Health, a healthcare district created by Travis county voters in 2004, addresses how local taxpayer funds are distributed to benefit the community.  

Central Health contracts with a variety of healthcare providers, such as University Medical Center Brackenridge (UMCB), Community Care Clinics, and the MAP program, to provide the infrastructure to deliver care.  Central Health will facilitate the existence of a new medical complex in 2016 when a new teaching hospital will replace UMCB and UT Austin will operate a new medical school.  All sectors of the community, insured and uninsured, will benefit with the presence of this new complex.  More specialized services can be offered to eliminate the need to travel outside of Austin for specialized care.  A new medical school will produce more primary care physicians, surgeons, and specialists that can enrich the pool of local doctors needed in the future. Central Health also facilitates access to the Medical Access Program (MAP), which provides qualified Travis County residents at certain income levels with access to primary and specialized health care.

Another organization that is uniquely Austin’s is the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAMM), an organization that provides access to affordable care to Austin musicians. Community leaders and prominent musicians recognized the contribution that musicians make to the “Live Music Capital of the World” and that most musicians are self-employed without many options when they need medical care.  They decided to create this Alliance to support local musician’s need for health care.

 These groups provide solutions for groups that would normally would have been shut out of the healthcare system. I believe that the groups that dedicate their efforts to solve social issues like health care access do not take on an easy task.  They are faced with criticisms as to why some of those who benefit from these programs deserve the effort that is taken to put these programs into place and how funds are spent. They address the needs of the city as a whole and are farsighted in how they invest time and money in the improvements they provide to our city.