RELEASE: Collier Unveils Healthcare Plan

Houston, TX — TODAY, Democrat Lt. Governor Nominee, Mike Collier unveiled his plan to increase access to healthcare, protect Texans with pre-existing conditions, keep hospitals open, and halt the exploding cost of insurance for Texans.

Texas is in a healthcare crisis. More Texans are uninsured than in any other state in America. Insurance premiums and deductibles are becoming so high that many Texans can no longer afford to protect themselves nor their families. Rural hospitals are closing, and the GOP will attempt to deny healthcare from Texans with pre-existing conditions.

As the recent Dallas Morning News series, ‘Pain and Profit’, showed us, insurance companies are making money hand over fist in Texas. Yet Texans are paying an extraordinary price, sometimes with their lives, because Dan Patrick is more concerned the health of his donors’ bank accountants than he is with the health of Texas families.

Using thirty years of business experience and accounting skills, Mike Collier today offers a plan to address these and other concerns with four basic elements:

Get Texans CoveredEncourage Texans who can afford insurance to buy on the healthcare exchange and provide assistance in signing up.

Close the Coverage Gap Use federal dollars, estimated at $9 billion per year, to provide coverage for hard working Texans who are priced out of insurance markets.

Promote Technology to Improve Outcomes and Drive Costs DownSupport research, programs, and commercialization of techniques and technology specifically geared toward cost containment.

Patient Financial Bill of Rights Including insurance for Texans with pre-existing conditions, and transparency of billing to drive down prices.

Per Collier, “Lives are at stake and we can’t afford to wait for Washington to get its act together. Texas can act now to combine technology, market forces, and federal dollars to increase access and halt, even reverse, the rising cost of healthcare in Texas.”

“Experts are predicting that Texans are in for a shock when health insurance costs start to skyrocket. Doing nothing doesn’t cut it. It’s time Texans take control of our destiny when it comes to the crippling cost of healthcare.”

Mike Collier is a proven business leader with an unblemished record of integrity and service. He is committed to excellent public education, reforming school funding, making property taxes fair again, and genuine fiscal responsibility. Mike and his wife Suzanne met at the University 0f Texas and have been married almost 29 years. They have two sons (and a wonderful daughter-in-law from Brazil), both of whom attended public schools and graduated from UT. Mike ran for Texas Comptroller in 2014 on the Democratic Ticket and served as Finance Chair for the Texas Dem. Party until March, 2017.