Health Care Equity in Travis County

Illustration By Doug Potter

Last week, advocates of a local health care district redoubled their letter-writing and phone-calling efforts to try to win support for enabling legislation (HB 2327, by Elliott Naishtat) from two current resisters -- Austin Reps. Todd Baxter and Jack Stick. The Republican freshmen have thus far refused to endorse the creation of a city-county health care district, citing their strong anti-tax sentiments.

The proposal carries the endorsement of the Travis Co. Medical Society, and supporters have collected signatures from 290 area doctors who support the bill. To assuage concerns about the T-word, a bipartisan group of health care district supporters have offered new provisions that would place a 25-cent cap on property taxes per $100 assessed value. (That's a third of the statutory cap of 75 cents.) If the legislation wins approval from both chambers, the question would be put to voters in November.

The health care district is in fact not so much about raising taxes as it is about achieving tax equity. The district would establish a uniform tax rate for all county residents -- right now, Baxter and Stick's suburban constituents are getting an almost-free ride: City residents pay a nickel, and county residents pay a penny. At press time, a public hearing date on the bill had not yet been set.