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Midway through his third term, state Rep. Philip Cortez is going to work on an issue that acutely affects every Texan — rising health care costs.

Cortez was appointed Dec. 10 by On Dec. 10, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen appointed the Democratic lawmaker to a brand-new select committee on statewide health care costs. He’ll be the only voice on the 11-member committee from the San Antonio area.

Cortez, 41, was first elected for a two-year term in 2012 representing District 117. He lost his re-election bid in 2014, but reclaimed the seat two years later. He’s running again in 2020 representing the city’s rapidly expanding far West and South sides.

Cortez is retired from the U.S. Air Force and recently earned a doctorate in educational administration from University of Texas at Austin.

Cortez said he will bring to his work on health care his experience serving on City Council, where his proudest moment was the opening of the Willie M. Cortez Senior Multi-Service Center. The center provides elderly residents with hot meals, entertainment, computer access, exercise and an on-site medical clinic run by WellMed.

Photo: Michael Fisher

The San Antonio Express-News sat down with Cortez at his district office near South Park Mall about his priorities and ideas for health care reform.

Q: What are the main issues you want to address when the committee starts meeting?

A: The most important issue, I believe, is the lack of insurance coverage for Texans, specifically children in Texas. Unfortunately, Texas is last in terms of insurance coverage for its citizens and children. This previous session, I filed House Bill 342, which was going to allow continuous Medicaid coverage for children for up to one year. We tried to get that bill passed, but unfortunately we were not successful. And the bureaucratic hurdles that exist today will continue for another two years until we’re back in our 2021 legislative session, where I intend on refiling that bill and hopefully getting it passed for the children of Texas. So uninsured children is a top priority.

I see it in my communities, I see it in my neighborhoods, I hear it from my residents, and it’s unacceptable that Texas be number one (for uninsured residents).

Q: What perspective will you bring to the debates over health care costs?

A: Well, I came from the Palo Alto arA San Antonio Express-News reporter sat down with Cortez at his office near South Park Mall about his priorities and ideas for health care reform. ea, and in some of the areas I represent, you’ll deal with obesity and heart disease. And to me, they’re related — one leads to another potentially. Diabetes is obviously a huge issue in our community, not just in the area that I represent and grew up in, but throughout Bexar County. Diabetes has impacted my family. So when you see those issues impacting your neighbors and your loved ones, we have an interest to find out what we can do to ensure that we’re promoting healthier lifestyles for everyone in the community, but also ensuring they have access to the health care needed to treat and manage these diseases.

Q: What are you hearing about health care costs from your constituents?

A: It’s too high. We are not doing a good job of keeping health care costs in check, especially for our retired and our senior citizens who are living on fixed incomes. Most of their pension checks or whatever they’re receiving in retirement are going toward just paying for health insurance. For example, our retired teachers in (the Texas Retirement System) right now, their healthcare costs continue to go up. Unfortunately, we have not given our TRS retirees a cost-of-living adjustment in over 10 years.

Our senior citizens are having to make decisions, too, as to whether or not they receive health care or they go and buy their medications, or they have to pay their CPS bill because of the cold weather. It’s unfortunate that health care continues to go up and our most vulnerable citizens, our seniors and our retirees, those who are living on fixed incomes, cannot keep up with the pace of inflation and increased health care costs.

Q: What kind of reforms would you pursue to ensure that more Texans receive insurance coverage?

A: Texas has one of the best economies, not only in the nation but in the world. With the type of revenue that we’re producing each and every year, all the companies and all the wonderful businesses located here, we have the resources to be able to expand our health care system here in Texas to remove us as the last state in the country that’s covering its residents. To me, the most immediate thing that we can do is expand Medicaid. Those dollars are there, but because of politics and because of the current political environment at the Capitol, we have not accepted those dollars and expanded our health care system. I voted to expand Medicaid in every legislative session I’ve been part of. Unfortunately, it does not pass because there’s not enough votes there. I’m asking the residents of Texas to remember this at the ballot box and don’t just listen to what a politician might be talking about in their campaign speech, but actually follow them and see how they vote. The most basic thing we can do as the government is to protect Texans and ensure they have adequate medical coverage.

Q: What are your priorities for the committee?

A: The lack of transparency in the cost of health care services. That's important because we hear about these medical bills landing in your mailbox, and there is no transparency as to how it got from point A to point B, where you owed all this money. We need to make sure that you know exactly what they're billing you for. And if there's an error, now you can contest it (because of legislation passed this year to address surprise medical bills). But there's still a lot of bureaucracy in that, and we're still having to fight that and ensure that it’s implemented properly. So I'm looking forward to working with my colleagues, especially Representative Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress) who's on the committee. He led the effort this past legislative session to ensure that there was transparency in medical billing.

What's also important is that we talk about different regions throughout Texas and whether they have adequate access to health care. We have to encourage medical students in school that maybe they do their residency in an area that is lower income, lower population. I'm trying to figure out what's the best way we can do that to ensure that that those populations have access to medical care and they don't have to drive an hour away just to be seen by their doctor or a specialist. That's something that we've talked about in session. We just have to figure out how we as a state can incentivize these medical students to do their residency in an area that has historically been under-served in terms of medical services.

Laura Garcia covers the health care industry in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her stories and more local coverage on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | laura.garcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @Reporter_Laura