Galveston County Daily News, Aug. 5, 2009
Area elected officials, civic leaders and business officials met to launch a campaign to win approval of a hospital district for Galveston County. State lawmakers said that the county must contribute more money for the county's uninsured residents before $150 million is released to build a new hospital tower at UTMB. "State Rep. Craig Eiland, a Galveston Democrat who was the architect of the legislature's plan to restore the medical branch, said the new tower was critical to recovery. Eiland said legislators had made it clear that Galveston County would have to support care for its uninsured residents who show up at the medical branch. Texas has 150 hospital districts, some of which have tax rates that exceed 20 cents per $100 of assessed value. The legislature, after years of cutting into funding to the medical branch, had increased operating funding by more than $100 million, he said. But until Galveston County residents act, ‘nothing will happen' to restore the hospital beds lost to the storm, Eiland said."