Galveston County Daily News, June 10, 2007 Letters to the Editor The University of Texas Medical Branch will likely receive more than $1.1 billion in state and federal funds during the next two years, but it's still not enough to cover the medical branch's increasing indigent-care expenses, lawmakers representing Galveston County say.This year the 80th Texas Legislature met to balance the budget and heard proposals of funding from Texas institutions such as the University of Texas Medical Branch. Unfortunately, UTMB got the short end of the stick this year. I was hoping for a special session, but that is not going to happen. Sen. Kyle Janek, Rep. Craig Eiland and Dr. John Stobo went to Austin to fight for funding that we needed so badly for unsponsored care. As it turns out, we didn't get near what we needed to help us get back on our feet. We ended far short of our expectations. I heard that Janek and his team really tried hard to get us what we needed and to no avail. It's sad that an institution of this magnitude could not persuade the Legislature to even budge on providing us with help. Every institution in Texas is doing a great job of getting the funding needed to grow and prosper. I believe that Galveston is just a dot on the Legislature's radar when it comes to seeing our point of view. We have a great institution and should be recognized on what we have accomplished. -- Joseph A. Conti