As a border state, Texas has a large number of illegal immigrants among its communities, many openly employed in various manual labor capacities. It's no surprise that they have no insurance, but nevertheless they make up a significant portion of the population. The Dallas Morning News (Jan 22 2008) talks with one such worker from Mexico.

But, what about about legal residents that simply can't afford to buy their own health insurance? Even when they're diagnosed with cancer, is there any financial assistance at their disposal? Take a look at some of the case studies reported in the Austin American-Statesman (Jan 20, 2008).

With 25% of its 28 million population without health insurance, Texas has the highest proportion of uninsured in the country. Even if non-citizens (both legal and undocumented) were factored out, the state would have a rate of 20% uninsured, which would still rank above all other states.

As posted on Waco's KWTX Web Site (Dec 4, 2007), 82% of the uninsured are from working families, and the majority are those in the 19-64 age range - perhaps not helped by 53% of Texas employers who do not offer group or any other type of health insurance provisions.

The March 4 Texas primary will be far too late in the season to have much of an impact on the national stage. So change may be some time off. Whatever happens, Health Benefits Direct will be monitoring events, with more information you can read, at: Texas Health Insurance.