MINUTES 
                                           
                      BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE ON THE UNINSURED 
                              Tuesday, March 21, 2000 
                                     9:30 a.m. 
                          City Hall Annex, Houston, Texas 
                                           
                                       ***** 
                                           
      Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate Rule 11.18, a  
      public hearing of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Uninsured was held  
      on Tuesday, March 21, 2000, in the City Hall Annex, Houston, Texas 
       
                                       ***** 
                                           
      MEMBERS PRESENT:                           MEMBERS ABSENT: 
      Senator Chris Harris                       Senator Eliot Shapleigh 
      Senator David Bernsen                      Dr. Nancy Dickey 
      Representative Garnet Coleman              Dr. John Goodman 
      Representative Craig Eiland 
      Representative Bob Glaze 
      Boone Powell 
                                           
                                       ***** 
                                           
      The chair called the meeting to order at 9:45AM   There being a quorum  
      present, the following business was transacted:   
       
      Representative Kip Averitt was in attendance and participated with the  
      members of the committee. 
       
      The minutes from the 12/16/99 and the 1/20/2000 Blue Ribbon Task Force  
      meetings were approved. 
       
      The next order of business was to hear invited testimony.  Listed in  
      order of their testimony are the following: 
      John Guest, President and Chief Executive Officer, Harris County  
      Hospital District (Written testimony attached) 
      Dr. Marty Engel, City of Houston Health and Human Services Department  
      (Written testimony attached) 
      Dan Wilford, Memorial/Hermann Healthcare System (Written testimony  
      attached) 
      Dr. Ralph Morris, Executive Director, Galveston County Health District  
      (Written testimony attached) 
      Dr. Ben Raimer, Vice President for Community Outreach, The University  
      of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (Written testimony attached) 
      Dr. Martin Raber, U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, (Written testimony  
      attached) 
      Ernest Gibson III, Riverside General Hospital 
      Dr. Denise Ingham, MHMRA of Harris County 
      Dr. Paul B. Handel, Harris County Medical Society/Texas Medical  
      Association  
      Dr. Michael Speer, Harris County Medical Society 
       
      Lee P. Brown, Mayor, City of Houston, stopped in to say how pleased he  
      was that the committee was having this meeting in Houston. 
  
      Dr. Gary J. Sheppard, Houston Medical Forum 
       
      Benito Juarez, Coordinator, Houston Immigration and Refugee Coalition  
      (HIRC) (Written testimony attached 
       
      There were questions and exchanges between the speakers and committee  
      members during the above testimony.  After the invited testimony  
      Senator Harris called for public testimony. 
       
      Listed in order of their testimony are the following: 
      Peter J. Durkin, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Houston and  
      Southeast Texas ( Written testimony attached) 
      Ed Berger, Vice President, Advocacy & Public Policy, Seton Healthcare  
      Network, Austin, Texas (Written testimony attached) 
      Betsy Schwartz, Executive Director, Mental Health Association of  
      Greater Houston (Written testimony attached) 
      Don Levit, Himself and all parties 
       
      There being no further business, at 3:37 p.m. Senator Harris moved  
      that the Committee stand recessed subject to the call of the chair.   
      Without objection, it was so ordered.   
       
      ______________________ 
      Senator Chris Harris 
       
      ______________________ 
      Myra Schmitt, Clerk