Child Health Plus
Yesterday, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand had an Op-Ed article published in Albany Times Union entitled: “For sake of kids' health, override Bush veto”. She believes that all Upstate New York children deserve affordable quality health care.
“All the children of New York deserve affordable quality health care. Yet, on Oct. 3, for only the fourth time, President Bush used his veto power to block a bill to fund a program in New York and other states that makes great strides in making that goal a reality. The program known as Child Health Plus was created in 1997 to provide coverage for children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.
“In New York, Child Health Plus offers 400,000 children access to quality health care. Yet, despite the success of this program, almost 300,000 children still lack health care coverage. Nationwide, there are still 9 million children who have no health insurance at all. The majority of them come from families that work full-time, but whose jobs do not offer health insurance. That's mainly because of the spiraling increases in health care costs that have hit every upstate New York family in recent years.
“To deal with this crisis, congressional Republicans and Democrats came together and passed a bipartisan solution to reauthorize and improve the State Children's Health Care Program that would provide health care to 10 million American kids. When children are healthy, they are able to fulfill their God-given potential. Healthy kids do better in school and require fewer emergency trips to the hospital. Their parents do not have to miss as much work to take care of them.
“Insuring children is also a sound, long-term investment for our country's economy and for controlling health care expenses. At a cost of only $3.50 a day to cover a child under Child Health Plus, it is far less expensive to pay for preventing an illness than for treating a serious condition in the emergency room, where a single visit can cost thousands of dollars.
“When trying to justify his veto, the President said that parents could take their children to the emergency room for health care. However, that places the economic burden on the taxpayers, and our state and local taxes increase as a result of this hidden unfunded mandate.
“President Bush has falsely labeled this legislation as fiscally irresponsible. I find this type of rhetoric appalling. As the President vetoed legislation that would provide health care for 10 million children, it was reported that $88 billion in government contracts and programs in Iraq and Afghanistan are being audited for financial irregularities and that an additional $6 billion is under review by criminal investigators.
“On Thursday, the House will vote on whether to override the President's veto. I will continue my effort to convince those representatives who are still undecided that this legislation is the right choice for all of our children. Providing affordable quality health care for kids is the morally and fiscally right thing to do.
“The House only needs 24 more votes for an override that will insure 10 million children. I will continue to fight.”
“All the children of New York deserve affordable quality health care. Yet, on Oct. 3, for only the fourth time, President Bush used his veto power to block a bill to fund a program in New York and other states that makes great strides in making that goal a reality. The program known as Child Health Plus was created in 1997 to provide coverage for children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.
“In New York, Child Health Plus offers 400,000 children access to quality health care. Yet, despite the success of this program, almost 300,000 children still lack health care coverage. Nationwide, there are still 9 million children who have no health insurance at all. The majority of them come from families that work full-time, but whose jobs do not offer health insurance. That's mainly because of the spiraling increases in health care costs that have hit every upstate New York family in recent years.
“To deal with this crisis, congressional Republicans and Democrats came together and passed a bipartisan solution to reauthorize and improve the State Children's Health Care Program that would provide health care to 10 million American kids. When children are healthy, they are able to fulfill their God-given potential. Healthy kids do better in school and require fewer emergency trips to the hospital. Their parents do not have to miss as much work to take care of them.
“Insuring children is also a sound, long-term investment for our country's economy and for controlling health care expenses. At a cost of only $3.50 a day to cover a child under Child Health Plus, it is far less expensive to pay for preventing an illness than for treating a serious condition in the emergency room, where a single visit can cost thousands of dollars.
“When trying to justify his veto, the President said that parents could take their children to the emergency room for health care. However, that places the economic burden on the taxpayers, and our state and local taxes increase as a result of this hidden unfunded mandate.
“President Bush has falsely labeled this legislation as fiscally irresponsible. I find this type of rhetoric appalling. As the President vetoed legislation that would provide health care for 10 million children, it was reported that $88 billion in government contracts and programs in Iraq and Afghanistan are being audited for financial irregularities and that an additional $6 billion is under review by criminal investigators.
“On Thursday, the House will vote on whether to override the President's veto. I will continue my effort to convince those representatives who are still undecided that this legislation is the right choice for all of our children. Providing affordable quality health care for kids is the morally and fiscally right thing to do.
“The House only needs 24 more votes for an override that will insure 10 million children. I will continue to fight.”
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