Local physician Davelyn Eaves-Hood remembers a patient whom she saw during her residency whose back was covered in severe and infected skin cancer lesions.
The man was hospitalized and required skin grafts to replace half the skin on his back, she said.
It's been more than 10 years since then, but Eaves-Hood said the patient she saw in Conroe left a lasting impression on her.
"This gentleman was so used to not having a physician to take care of him that he waited until he was in a lot of pain and wound up in the [emergency room] with an infection," she said. "Had he had better access to care, and had there been an early intervention, that could have been an office procedure. It wouldn't have been as big a deal."
Local health care administrators who say Eaves-Hood's patient's situation is common are seeking support for legislation that would encourage medical students to practice in underserved areas.
Eaves-Hood works for the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency, which operates clinics that serve people with inadequate or no health insurance in Bryan, College Station, Hearne, Centerville, Madisonville and Navasota.
BVCAA Deputy Director Eric Todd said at a press conference Tuesday that the agency has difficulty finding health care providers to work in the agency's rural clinics.
One job opening for a doctor at a clinic in Centerville has remained vacant for two years, he said.
Texas House Bill 1876 would establish a fund to provide up to $150,000 in loan repayment money for physicians who agree to practice in areas with limited access to health care.
The majority of money for the program would come from an increase in taxes levied on smokeless tobacco, including snuff and chewing and loose tobacco.
Those products are taxed at 40 percent of the manufacturer's price. The bill would change the taxing system to that used on cigarettes and cigars, which are taxed by weight.
The bill was voted out of the Public Health Committee recently. Chairwoman Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, voted in favor of the bill.
Proponents of the measure say the differences in taxing those products is a loophole that this bill would close.
"We're saying choose health over tobacco," Todd said.
But the bill also worries business owners such as Aslam Abdullah, who owns Tobacco and More in Bryan.
"People who are smokers are having a really, really hard time. If they raise [the taxes] any more, it will be difficult, and businesses are really going to hurt badly," he said.
Federal cigarette taxes increased by 62 cents April 1. Abdullah said he'd seen a 15 percent decrease in sales in the first two weeks of April, compared to last month's.
Abdullah said another increase could hurt sales even more and might force him to cut employees.
"I'm a small businessman," he said. "All I'm worried about is my bread and butter."
Gentry Woodard, director of legislative affairs and grants for the Bryan-based St. Joseph Regional Health System, said rural areas' lack of access to health care is compounded by a statewide shortage of health care professionals.
"Rural counties are constantly in competition for the same things as big hospitals," he said, explaining that doctors, nurses and other medical professionals often choose larger cities or hospitals with more equipment and resources.
The St. Joseph system operates eight clinics and three critical-access hospitals in eight rural Brazos Valley cities.
Last year, Woodard said, 24 physicians at those clinics and hospitals handled 107,511 office visits.
BVCAA's three clinics saw 70,000 patients last year, Todd said.
Increasing the number of primary care physicians results in fewer hospital admissions and emergency room visits, according to the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
Todd said the legislation could help his agency lure more providers to underserved areas.
"If this bill passes, we can hold the carrot out there" to doctors who might otherwise choose to practice in a larger city where they can earn more money, Todd said.
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