cameron county/matamoros - blue - The University of Texas at ...

UTB-CBIRD Report: “At The Crossroads” Economic Development 124
insurance systems that have given rise to growth in home-healthcare services.
The young, on the other hand, represent a different set of healthcare needs that
are too often unmet due to a lack of education and financial resources.
On the one hand, U.S.-to-Mexico migration across the border for healthcare
services is common. Mexican-Americans often prefer Mexico’s physicians,
dentists, and pharmacists due to cultural familiarity and relatively low cost as
well as a lack of U.S. healthcare insurance. In addition many U.S. residents
travel to Mexico for medical and dental care and pharmaceutical purchases. On
the other hand, while the Mexican Constitution defines healthcare as a right of
citizenship, and while Mexican state and federal employees are ostensibly
provided with comprehensive coverage, the reality is different. Public hospitals
in fast-growing Matamoros have been unable to keep up with increasing demand
and have seen budget cuts in recent years. As a result, middle and upper
income Mexicans frequently look across the border to the U.S. for medical care
and for every Matamoros resident who can afford American health services many
more do not receive adequate preventive care and, as a result, are treated in
U.S. hospital emergency rooms. Cameron County is providing healthcare
services on a regional basis and much of the patient load is coming from Mexico.
While the State of Texas has more serious healthcare challenges than most of
the U.S., South Texas has the most serious challenges of any region in the U.S.
The border population has:
⇒ A higher percentage of residents under 18 and over 65 years old
⇒ Over 6 times the average regional Hispanic population of the US
⇒ Almost double the U.S. poverty rate -- per capita income is about two-thirds
the national figure.
⇒ A percentage of persons with private insurance that is lower than elsewhere
in the state and, in most counties, there is no local indigent care program for
adults whose incomes exceed 22% of poverty. 1
⇒ 12% fewer high school graduates and 4% fewer baccalaureate degrees on
average
⇒ Higher unemployment and double the US percentage of population on food
stamps
Health indicators of particular concern are higher rates of tuberculosis and the
emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis, increasing numbers of HIV/AIDS
cases, and high rates of Hepatitis A and Diabetes as they represent serious
healthcare challenges for a large population of poor adults and children with
limited access to medical care. The prevalence for Type II diabetes, in adults
under 65, is three to four times the national rate.
Colonias and binational mobility are complicating factors for the delivery of
adequate healthcare. 2 The historic growth of the maquiladora industry, on the
Mexican side, along with explosive population growth and extreme fiscal
tightening, have increased and continue to increase water infrastructure and
wastewater needs in the region. Lack of adequate sanitation and water supply
1 ibid.
2 “NAFTA and United States/Mexico Border Health: The Impact on HRSA-Sponsored Programs,” by
David Warner and Jillian Hopewell, Center for Health Economics and Policy, The University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio, December 1999. The study area included eleven Texas
counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy and Zapata in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Dimmit,
Kinney, Maverick, Val Verde, Webb, and Zavala in the Mid-Rio Grande Area. The two areas are
commonly referred to as Rio Grande Valley. They border nine “municipios” of the Mexican States of
Tamaulipas and Coahuila.
Una Region -- Un Futuro
The economic
demographics of the
region -- low wages,
high unemployment,
large families – these
all present barriers
between the general
populace and
adequate health care.