SHORT TITLE; PURPOSE.

(a) This chapter may be cited as the Texas Kidney Health Care Act.

(b) The state finds that one of the most serious and tragic problems facing the public health and welfare is the death each year from end stage renal disease of hundreds of persons in this state, when the present state of medical art and technology could return many of those individuals to a socially productive life. Patients may die for lack of personal financial resources to pay for the expensive equipment and care necessary for survival. The state therefore recognizes a responsibility to allow its citizens to remain healthy without being pauperized and a responsibility to use the resources and organization of the state to gather and disseminate information on the prevention and treatment of end stage renal disease.

(c) A comprehensive program to combat end stage renal disease must be implemented through the combined and correlated efforts of individuals, state and local governments, persons in the field of medicine, universities, and nonprofit organizations. The program provided by this chapter is designed to direct the use of resources and to coordinate the efforts of the state in this vital matter of public health.