New facilities and expanded resources are coming for Harris County’s most vulnerable residents after voters overwhelmingly approved the $2.5 billion Harris Health bond on November 7, 2023. 

Harris County voters approved a $2.5 billion bond toward the county’s healthcare infrastructure. The bond will ensure construction of a Level 1 trauma center on the campus of LBJ Hospital – the first outside the Houston Medical Center – and increased patient capacity at Ben Taub Hospital. The bond will also allow for the construction of Harris Health clinics across the county, with at least one located in Precinct 4.  

Harris Health System is the only public healthcare system in Harris County and a safety net system that provides healthcare to everyone, regardless of insurance coverage. The addition of the facilities will improve health outcomes for thousands, including uninsured people who would not normally go to a hospital, even when medically necessary.  

The addition of medical infrastructure is also a boon to both Harris County’s and Texas’s economy, both because of the creation of jobs and because a healthier population leads to a stronger local economy. 

“Every $1 Harris Health receives in ad valorem taxes generates $5.89 within the county’s economy,” according to an Impact Study released by Harris Health in August. “34,396 total jobs [are] supported throughout Texas, [and] more than 5,000 jobs are supported in Texas communities outside Harris County because of Harris Health’s presence.” 

The expansion and improvements of the facilities will not only help those who need its services but the thousands of medical students who train at their facilities. Once graduated, most students who trained within the Harris Health System stay to practice in Harris County and bring their skills both to the area’s public and private hospitals.