\t\t\t\t\t![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777643048_102_.webp\")
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows called for the creation of the House Select Committee on Health Care Affordability earlier this year, tasking state representatives with examining factors that affect healthcare affordability in Texas. In a six-hour day that kicked off a two-day public hearing, lawmakers received a broad overview of the issue before focusing on the role that hospital and drug costs play. (Bret Jaspers | KERA)<\/p>\n
More Texans are struggling to afford healthcare, and state lawmakers want to understand what\u2019s prompting costs to increase.<\/p>\n
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows called for the creation of the House Select Committee on Health Care Affordability earlier this year, tasking state representatives<\/a> with examining factors that affect healthcare affordability in Texas. In a six-hour day that kicked off a two-day public hearing, lawmakers received a broad overview of the issue before focusing on the role that hospital and drug costs play.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal for the committee is to eventually arrive at policy solutions that will help decrease the cost of quality healthcare for our constituents,\u201d said Rep. James Frank, the committee\u2019s chair. \u201cAnd, at the very least, stop the out-of-control healthcare inflation that is taking a bigger and bigger piece of every Texan\u2019s economic lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Frank, who represents House District 69, which includes Wichita Falls and Paducah, said the goal of this hearing isn\u2019t to discuss policy solutions \u2013 instead he wants policymakers to gather an understanding to inform future conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of us know that healthcare pricing is largely broken,\u201d Frank said. \u201cBut I think sometimes it\u2019s difficult to know why…By truly taking our time, it is also my hope that we can address the root cause of pricing problems as opposed to playing whack-a-mole with the symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee will return Friday, and will continue to hear invited testimony only. Frank said members of the public who wish to testify can submit written comments to the committee.<\/p>\n Healthcare affordability<\/p>\n Charles Miller, director of health and economic mobility policy at the public policy organization Texas 2036, said health insurance premiums have increased so much that voters are saying it\u2019s their number one priority \u201cfor the first time ever.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe launched a voter poll last fall, and this issue was more important than property taxes, than homeowners\u2019 insurance, than disaster response, than water infrastructure,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThese are all the topics that have been taking up a lot of time at the Capitol, and health affordability is more important to Texas voters than all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as gas prices climb<\/a>, a recent poll from KFF \u2013 a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that does research on health issues \u2013 showed the cost of healthcare remains at the top<\/a> of economic concerns for the public.<\/p>\n In the U.S., data shows spending on healthcare is more than in any other large country with a similar sized economy.<\/p>\n Cynthia Cox, senior vice president with KFF, said that doesn\u2019t result in better health outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spend almost twice as much on average per person on healthcare,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd yet, we live shorter lives. And on both of these metrics, the U.S. stands out as being very different from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, the cost of services has increased. Healthcare costs in the U.S. generally rise faster than inflation<\/a>, leaving people to pay significant amounts of their paycheck toward health coverage.<\/p>\n Zack Cooper, a professor of public health and economics at Yale University, told lawmakers that since 2000, health care spending in the U.S. has grown three times faster than inflation \u2013 driving 90% of the growth in premiums.<\/p>\n For a family of four, Cooper said the average premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance is about $27,000 annually.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery family is basically buying a new Toyota Corolla worth of health insurance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cooper noted rising healthcare costs are one of the leading causes of income inequality in the U.S.<\/p>\n The average family in the U.S. has about $8,000 in \u201cliquid assets,\u201d or funds that can be quickly accessed, according to Cooper.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re spending more on health care than you are on your mortgage,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you get sick, chances are you\u2019re going to literally go through everything that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n