Skipping health care (March 11, 2025)

On Tuesday’s show: A new statewide health care poll finds nearly two thirds of Texans are skipping or postponing care because it costs too much. We discuss that and other findings from the Episcopal Health Foundation’s annual poll on health care access and affordability.

Also this hour: Does Houston get snubbed? We certainly host our share of big events, but when it comes to popular culture — films, television, concerts — why is Houston sometimes bypassed? We revisit our conversation about that subject from last year.

Then, author Clint Smith talks about how Hurricane Katrina forced him to relocate from his home in New Orleans to Houston and how that experience shaped him as a writer. And he talks about his award-winning book, How the Word Is Passed, which examined historical sites across the country and how they do — and often do not — reckon with our nation’s history of slavery. Smith speaks in Houston March 18 at a fundraising event for The Jung Center of Houston.

And we talk with comedian Russell Howard ahead of his March 18 show in Houston.