I got word that our county’s tax-supported hospital, University Hospital, was experiencing record waits. I spent five different days in the waiting room, where I saw patients sleeping on the waiting room floor for hours on end. The hospital, which is South Texas’ only civilian top-tier trauma center, is but a microcosm of America’s health care crisis. Nationally, ER visits rose 18 percent between 1994 and 2004 – from 93 million to 110 million. Texas saw an increase of 33 percent. But San Antonio added little to no new capacity during that time in its hospital emergency network. University’s ER was expanded in the mid-1980s to handle 35,000 patients a year. Today, it sees 70,000 in the same 44 beds.
