Health care in the South
The world's largest medical center in Houston, the highest uninsured rates in the country, and states that never expanded Medicaid. 33651 places across 5 cities.
What changes about health care in the South
The South has both extremes. Houston's Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex on earth, with MD Anderson, Methodist and Baylor in one district; Dallas has UT Southwestern; Miami has Jackson Memorial and a fast-growing private hospital market; New Orleans rebuilt its whole hospital system after Katrina. Yet Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, around seventeen percent, and Florida is close behind.
The reason is policy. Texas and Florida are among the ten states that never expanded Medicaid, so a working adult without employer coverage can fall into a gap where they earn too much for Medicaid and too little for a marketplace subsidy. Louisiana did expand, and its uninsured rate fell by half. Rural hospital closures hit Texas harder than any other state.
What changes for the patient: the ER is the front door for far more people, charity care and county hospitals like Harris Health and Parkland carry the load, and the same visit can be free or a four-figure bill depending on which side of the coverage line you stand. Austin and Miami have the most urgent care clinics per capita; Texas leads the country in freestanding ERs that bill like hospitals.
South cities in the directory
Doctors, urgent care centers, pharmacies, dentists and labs, with address and phone, in each of the 5 cities.