Since 1982, Families USA has worked to promote high-quality,
affordable health care for all Americans.
Health Care Reform in 2009
What should health reform look like? What have states done already to expand coverage? Why is reform needed? Click here for a collection of resources from Families USA that can help you understand what's at stake.
News from the Hill
CHIP Expanded and Reauthorized:
The House passed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) by a vote of 290-135, and President Obama signed it into law in a special White House ceremony on February 4. Check out the details on our
CHIP Reauthorization page.
Healing the Economy: Health Provisions in the Stimulus Package: The stimulus bill—with its significant health care provisions—is an exciting first step, but we lost some ground along the way. Click here for details and to see what's good and not-so-good about the new law. Read Ron Pollack's blog post on why the stimulus provisions are so important.
New Resources from Families USA
CHIPRA: The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - A Series of Issue Briefs. In February 2009, after a protracted political fight, Congress enacted, and President Obama signed, legislation that renewed CHIP through the end of 2013 and expanded its scope. These issue briefs examine the new provisions that were included in the reauthorization and how they will affect implementation in the coming months.
Health Care Must Be Affordable for All Families, Regardless of Income presents crucial arguments for why health reform must ensure that health care is truly affordable. It proposes placing reasonable limits on out-of-pocket costs and providing subsidies, especially for those with low and moderate incomes. (April 2009)
Covering the Uninsured in Medicaid describes the critical role Medicaid must play in ensuring coverage for all low-income Americans as part of health care reform. (April 2009)
States Act to Help People Laid Off from Small Firms: More Needs to Be Done discusses how, in response to pressure from advocates, some states are taking steps toward passing "mini-COBRA" laws to help laid off workers from small firms get the federal subsidy guaranteed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). (April 2009)
CoverTN, Tennessee's Barebones Health Plan: A Case Study uses Tennessee's barebones health plan as an example to examine how limited-benefit plans fail to meet the health coverage needs of consumers. (April 2009)
Americans at Risk: One in Three Uninsured presents data showing that 86.7 million people were uninsured for some period of time during 2007-2008. The report also offers a closer look at the number of uninsured, who they are, and how long they are uninsured, and it discusses the major reasons for the growth in the number of uninsured. | State Reports (March 2009)
Health Care Reform: Critical to Closing the Gap for Communities of Color presents a more in-depth look at data on the uninsured, which reveal alarming racial and ethnic disparities in health coverage. (March 2009)
Getting Covered: Finding Health Insurance When You Lose Your Job is designed to help consumers who've lost their health coverage sort through possible options for new coverage, including COBRA, Medicaid, CHIP, other federal and state programs, and the individual market. (February 2009)
New TV AD: At a time when American businesses are hurting, why should we worry about fixing health care? Because quality, affordable health care can save money and make businesses more competitive. Families USA and a number of other organizations ran an ad starting on January 8, 2009, that highlighted this important issue. Click here to see the ad and find out what you can do.
Historic Health Care Agreement Reached: To keep building the momentum for health care reform, Families USA joined 17 other diverse health care stakeholders -- including groups representing consumers, providers, insurers, and business -- to find and define consensus on as many issues as possible. After six months, the results make it clear that, in 2009, the areas of common ground far outweigh the points of contention. More: Ron Pollack's blog on this historic effort. The Health Reform Dialogue Report. | Press Release
Harry and Louise Return! They were the characters in the infamous 1993 TV ad that helped derail health care reform for the past 15 years. Now Harry and Louise are back — and they're singing a very different tune. Watch the ad, and see what Harry and Louise are saying 15 years later.
Conference Call Series for State Advocates: Listen to the calls from the 2009 series.
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