Show Congress Broad Support to Override the President's SCHIP Veto - and to Meet Human Needs
State Organizations Needed to Sign Letters in 12 States--Click to sign for Georgia .
- Deadline, Friday, October 12
To our Friends in National Organizations:
The President's veto of the children's health insurance bill (SCHIP) will come up for a House override vote on October 18. We want to show strong support for the override in 12 states whose members of Congress can provide the margin of victory for millions of children.
We can do this through letters signed by organizations in those states - from local congregations to statewide groups. The letters will be sent to every member in the state's delegation.
The message: congregations, child care centers, health providers, social service agencies, professionals, labor, advocates, and concerned citizen groups statewide want Members of Congress to vote for children's health coverage, and to vote for human needs appropriations to invest in healthy children, educated workers, and secure families and seniors.
You can also help show the breadth of support for SCHIP and human needs by forwarding this request to your state/local networks in these states: CA, FL, GA, IL, IN, MI, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, and VA. (Please click on your state for a sample letter)
Or copy and paste this link in an email: http://aaddpolitical.blogspot.com/
SCHIP Fact Sheet:
~The Bi-Partisan CHIPRA legislation, vetoed by the President, would increase federal funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $35 billion over the next 5 years. Georgia would receive over $400 million in federal funds per year, an additional $240 million over current baseline federal funding for the PeachCare program. Georgia needs an additional $130 million above current federal funding levels simply to serve the 275,000 low-income children currently enrolled in PeachCare. The additional $240 million would enable Georgia to serve not only the 275,000 low-income children already enrolled, but would enable Georgia to serve an additional 100,000 low-income children currently eligible for PeachCare but not enrolled. This is a great deal for Georgia taxpayers in that the state contributes only $1 for every $2.70 received from the Federal government for the PeachCare program.
~The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that nationally, over two-thirds of all children who would gain SCHIP coverage due to additional funding contained in CHIPRA would otherwise be uninsured. This compares to the President's health care proposals relying on tax deductions and credits where 77 percent of the benefits would go to people who already have health insurance. CBO director Peter Orszag has stated that he "has not seen another plan that adds 5 million kids to [SCHIP and Medicaid] with a 33 percent crowd out rate. This is pretty much as good as it is going to get."
~Nationally, of the 3.8 million children who would benefit from the additional funding, it is estimated that 84 percent are children who have incomes below the current eligibility limits set by states.
~PeachCare is a government-subsidized program, not a government-run (single-payer or socialized medicine) health system. PeachCare beneficiaries receive coverage through private managed care plans. The American Medical Association, as well as trade associations for private insurance companies and drug companies, supports the efforts in Congress to use SCHIP to cover substantially more uninsured low-income children.
~PeachCare recipients share in the cost of the program. PeachCare charges a sliding scale premium that tops out at $35 per month per child with a family cap of $70 per month.
~Non-citizens are not eligible for SCHIP. The Bi-Partisan CHIPRA legislation vetoed by the President extends the Medicaid citizenship documentation requirement to SCHIP.
GBPI's research reports are available on its website at www.gbpi.org.
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