A health worker administers a measles test on Fernando Tarin, of Seagraves, Texas, at a mobile testing site outside Seminole Hospital District.

A sign is seen outside a clinic with the South Plains Public Health District.

The ICU at El Campo Memorial Hospital in El Campo, Texas. Changes to Medicaid could have severe implications for rural hospitals.

A rally to expand Medicaid at the Texas Capitol.

Congratulations, Texas. Only Mississippi ranks worse when it comes to health care, but only by a smidge.

Texas was worse than Mississippi in terms of the number of low-income people accessing and affording health care, new research from The Commonwealth Fund shows. If it weren’t for slightly lower rankings in some of the other 69 categories, Mississippi might even have pulled ahead.

Health care in Texas has been pitiful for decades, and while the state has made progress in some areas, it has regressed in others. The Lone Star State is a lousy place to be sick and poor.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The big driver of poor health in Texas is Gov. Greg Abbott’s refusal to expand Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people. The Texas Medicaid program does not cover able-bodied, childless adults or the working poor whose employers do not offer health insurance.

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country at 22% of adults, double the national average. We have the second-highest uninsured rate for children at 12%, more than double the national average of 5%.

Lack of insurance leads to more medical problems. Texas has among the........

© Houston Chronicle