Pat Carpenter

For some people, mention the words "health insurance" and the eyes begin to glaze over.

Texas residents faced with a job loss in Dallas, Houston, Austin, or throughout the state, once had a big problem when it came to health care. Before the advent of federal legislation commonly referred to by its acronym -- COBRA (short for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) --

For many of the 13.3 million uninsured young adults in America, it comes as no surprise that their demographic leads those going without health coverage.

Companies looking for ways to cut costs in a competitive marketplace are increasingly looking to health insurance as a source of savings. While that's not good news for employees, it does represent something of a trend -- employees purchasing their own health insurance or filling in the gaps left by workplace budget cuts.

Money and fun aren't necessarily words that people automatically put together. But for people in the cities of Houston, Dallas and Austin, and throughout Texas, there are more than enough ways of dealing with the stuff to make the world go around a little easier.f