|
Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, issued the following statement in response to comments by President Bush that Congress should focus on tax proposals instead of strengthening the successful State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
"President Bush is either confused about SCHIP or is deliberately attempting to mislead the American people. During a town hall forum today in Cleveland, President Bush suggested that Democrats are plotting to federalize our health care system via the reauthorization of SCHIP. The American public should not fall victim to this red herring.
“What the president fails to realize, or intentionally left out of his statement, is that SCHIP already provides beneficiaries with access to private health insurance. Democrats simply want to strengthen the existing program so that we can provide health care coverage to millions of kids who are now eligible but who are not enrolled. If the president is truly interested in enrolling more people in private health insurance he will stop working against Democrats and start working with us to reauthorize this important program.
"Today, there are nearly forty-seven million Americans who don’t have health insurance, including approximately nine million children. This disturbing statistic would undoubtedly be worse if it were not for SCHIP.
"Since it was established by Congress ten years ago, SCHIP has helped reduce the number of uninsured children in our nation. Thanks to SCHIP, the percentage of low-income children in the United States without health insurance has fallen by one-fourth since it was created in 1997. More than six million low-income children, most of whom would otherwise be uninsured, are enrolled in SCHIP.
"President Bush's tax proposals will not help these children. And rather than demonizing SCHIP, the president should work with the Congress so that we provide health care to millions of children who desperately need it."
|
