Rep Al Edwards Stays One Step Ahead of President Obama's Goal for Encouraging More Primary Care Physicians in Healthcare Debate

At a recent Healthcare Town Hall meeting hosted by President Obama in North Carolina, President Obama touched on a largely unspoken but critical aspect to healthcare access that affects large portions of our population...the shortage of primary care physicians. Without access to primary care physicians and preventative healthcare many people unwisely let health issues escalate into danger zones, thereby stressing their health to limit, as well as their finances. Rep Edwards has taken the early lead in addressing this issue by passing Doctor Shortage Loan Assistance Legislation in the recent legislative session. Below is an excerpt of the exchange at the Town Hall on Healthcare by the President and further information below on the issue:

TOWN HALL ATTENDEE: "As the wife of a family physician, we see people not only coming into that specialty less and less often, but also leaving that specialty because it’s so, so hard as a young family to make that work — long hours, not great reimbursement, not great pay, with huge amounts of debt when you come out of medical school. So what are you thinking of to entice more people to come into that speciality? Because you can insure every person in America and if there’s not a physician there to see that person you still don’t have health care. So what are you going to do to entice people to come — (applause.)"

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "This is a great question. Just so everybody understands what we’re talking about here, it used to be that the most common type of doctor was the family physician. You’d go in and they knew you and they knew your family. And every once in a while you’d go to a specialist, but basically you were dealing with a family doctor. Increasingly, the economics of being a primary care physician or a family doctor is a bad deal for a lot of medical students, because they come out with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. But it turns out that a primary care physician...is probably more valuable to the person’s health and to the society as a whole (than a surgeon), but if it’s not rewarded, then fewer and fewer people go into that branch of medicine. If we pass health reform — when we pass health reform — then what we’re going to — (applause) — and more people now have access to the system, it is going to be vital that we increase the number of primary care physicians. The best way for us to do it is...to provide scholarships and financial incentives for young medical students who are willing to go into the primary care field...then we can change I think the incentives for a lot of doctors so that we get more and more primary care physicians."


ENTER HB 2154 by Rep Al Edwards
Under HB 2154, Rep Al Edwards has taken the first step towards helping the country's healthcare system and increasing the country's health as a whole by passing the historic Physician Loan Repayment Program- HB 2154. The bill, now law, will provide loan repayment assistance in an amount up to $160,000 in exchange for 4 years of service to primary care physicians who agree to serve in underserved areas of the state including inner cities and rural areas. This will help bring up to 900 new doctors to these urban and rural areas.

This bill is monumental because it precisely addresses the crisis at hand...Medical Students now face student loan debts sometimes in excess of $160,000 upon entering practice. Therefore the student end up choosing more highly paid specialties in order to pay off their debt. This bill will help pay off their debts in near totality for them, by simply having them commit to serve in doctor shortage areas, areas in dire need of doctors. This ends up being a win-win for both the doctors and the people in that area because now they are able to receive more of the critical preventive care which is forte of primary care physicians.

In fact, this helps in part solve the national healthcare crisis because preventive care has been proven to drastically reduce later health costs in the patient because it stems and could prevent illnesses from developing which ends costing the patient more pain, heartache, treatment and ultimately more money.

Healthy lives are the cornerstone of communities and we all must do our part to make our lives better. Rep Edwards has received awards across the state for his leadership and commitment to helping achieve these goals, and he should be applauded for doing his part to accomplish the goals set out by President Obama in the national healthcare debate.

Rep Al Edwards Celebrates Legislative Victories in the 81st Legislative Session

This legislative proved to be a session where much was accomplished, although we left some unfinished business to complete. I am extremely proud of my accomplishments this session. I worked hard to make the lives of District 146 residents better, and will continue to do so.

This session I successfully passed 5 Bills into law, in a range of areas from increasing access to healthcare to making sure industrial companies are not getting extra-undeserved tax credits to protecting our citizens from "homeless" sex offenders to making sure there is continued funding for crime victims so that they can recover in the aftermath of a crime.

Here is a brief snapshot of the bills I authored that were successful into passage:

HB 2154 by Rep Al Edwards
This historic piece of legislation provides significant loan repayment assistance to Primary Care Physicians who agree to practice in underserved and needy areas. In fact areas of District 146, such as the Central Care Community Health Center, are designated as underserved areas, which is why I fought so strongly for this legislation. This bill will help Community Health Centers attract doctors to serve, thereby leading to better health care for the most needy residents of our area.

This bill gets its funding source from changing the method of taxation on chewing tobacco, which will generate the state an additional $105 million over the next two years. What makes this piece of legislation even more important is that the extra funds in excess of loan repayment program are going to provide the much needed and heralded Franchise Tax Exemption for small businesses up to $1 million.

The importance of this bill is hard to underestimate. This bill provides a boost to healthcare and businesses in this state, directly impacting our citizens in two of the most critical areas of our lives.

HB 3206 by Rep Al Edwards
This successful bill establishes a framework for industrial companies to apply for and receive pollution control equipment tax credits on a fair and equitable basis. The bill sets up a TCEQ regulator-driven formal application process to ensure that evaluation methods for the tax credit applications is based on the actual pollution control usage of the equipment in question. This will stop industrial companies for receiving tax breaks on equipment that is used to make profits and not control pollution, which has been costing our school districts, counties, and even homeowners by not requiring these companies to pay their fair share.

HB 2153 by Rep Al Edwards
Another key piece of legislation, I passed HB 2153 to help protect our children from the horrors of sex offenders. This bill closes a loophole in the sex offender registration laws which previously did not allow for the tracking of sex offenders who claimed to be "homeless". Our police had no way to know where these sex offenders were. With the passage of this bill, a sex offender who claims to be "homeless" would be required to physically check-in to law enforcement authorities where they are located at least once every 30 days and give a description of the location or area in which they are staying. This new piece of legislation will significantly help law enforcement to protect citizens from sex offenders.

SB 1377 authored by Senator Harris, sponsored by Rep Al Edwards
I sponsored this successful piece of legislation which is designed to ensure that the Crime Victims Compensation Fund remains a solvent source of funds to provide victims of crime financial assistance to help get their lives back in order. This bill provides a mechanism so that 50% of year-end balance funds greater than $5 million which accumulate in the Crime Victims Compensation Auxiliary Fund are automatically directed to the main Crime Victims Compensation Fund. This great bill will ensure that payments to victims for costs incurred as a result of a crime committed such as medical bills or counseling are available to be made. In recent years the Crime Victims Compensation Fund had been in danger of insolvency, with this bill's passage in the future this will no longer be the case.

More important legislation I helped pass:
SB 1206- authored by Senator Hinojosa, sponsored by Rep Al Edwards I also sponsored this necessary piece of legislation to reduce the delays for the processing of parole for incarcerated persons. This bill only affects inmates who had been granted parole contingent upon completion of a rehabilitation program. Offenders were completing all their necessary programs and requirements needed to be released, however they were doing so earlier than their estimated completion date. The delays in releasing these offenders for parole limited bed capacity and causing a back log in the system producing further unnecessary expenses. The bill, as passed, allows a range of dates to release these offenders only once they've completed their approved rehabilitation program, in a range of time which is 15 to 45 days prior to the established target completion date. This streamlining process will help save the state $13.5 million over the next two years.Unfortunately, this bill was vetoed by Governor Perry even though it passed both chambers of the legislature with overwhelming support.

In addition, I also helped pass another bill SB 1206 which would have ensured that would have eliminated parole process delays for worthy incarcerated inmates who had fulfilled all their required duties and programs as outlined by the Board of Pardons & Paroles but are unable to be released because they finished the required rehab or treatment program a little earlier than expected.

This is snapshot of some of the important bills I passed this legislative session. I will provide more updates of other important legislation that passed this session in order to keep my readers informed.

For more information, please feel free to contact my office at 512.463.0518.

Rep Edwards Passes HB 2154 to Increase Primary Care Access in Texas

TEXAS ACADEMY of FAMILY PHYSICIANS
12012 Technology Blvd, Ste 200, Austin, TX 78727 | (512) 329-8666, fax (512) 329-8237

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Jonathan Nelson
Phone: (512) 329-8666, ext. 26


Rep. Edwards Increases Access to Primary Care Across Texas


The Texas Academy of Family Physicians applauds Rep. Al Edwards and his efforts to bring primary care physicians to underserved communities across Texas. With his bill, House Bill 2154, Rep. Edwards demonstrates his commitment to the health and well-being of all Texans.

“We’ve had no better advocate than Rep. Al Edwards,” said Robert Youens, MD, president of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. “He knows that the best way to make sure Texans in underserved, urban neighborhoods and rural communities alike have access to the care they need is to bring more primary care physicians to those areas.”

Studies show that having more primary care physicians in a community leads to a decrease in the number of costly hospital admissions and emergency room visits, and patients receive better health outcomes at lower costs.

But Texas faces a severe shortage of primary care physicians. More than half of Texas’ counties need more primary care physicians, and the problem is only getting worse.

Chief among the multiple factors contributing to Texas’ shrinking supply of primary care physicians is the cost of medical school. Faced with such high medical school debt, many doctors forego practice in underserved areas, like inner city Houston.

H.B. 2154 would provide up to $160,000 in debt relief for primary care physicians who agree to practice for up to four years in health professional shortage areas.

“Rep. Edwards has a keen understanding of the health care crisis facing not just his constituents in urban Harris County, but all of Texas,” said TAFP CEO Tom Banning. “House Bill 2154 creates a new, substantial loan repayment program to relieve medical students from the crushing debt they incur in medical school, producing the kinds of physicians Texas needs to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time in the right setting.”

Family physicians and their patients appreciate Rep. Edwards’ consistent dedication to solving health care issues facing Texas. TAFP looks forward to working with Rep. Edwards to ensure that all Texans have access to primary care.

As Texas’ largest medical specialty organization, TAFP promotes and assures the maintenance of high-quality health care. It provides its members with a unified voice for family medicine and continues to be one of the most patient-oriented public health groups in Texas.