RESPONSE TO BUSH HEALTH PROPOSAL IN THE STIMULUS PACKAGE

he following is a statement by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, concerning President Bush's health care proposal in the economic stimulus package:

"We are pleased that President Bush recognized the need for providing health coverage assistance to recently unemployed workers and their families. Unfortunately, the President's proposal is less than half a loaf and hardly constitutes a slice.

"Most of the President's health-related relief comes from taking $11 billion in existing funds from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In effect, the President plans to take funds designed to provide coverage to low-income, uninsured children and to divert those funds to recently uninsured adults. This hardly constitutes relief for needy families.

"The $11 billion in SCHIP funds are not unused funds, as the President and HHS Secretary Thompson may have implied. Under the SCHIP legislation, money allocated to the states for uninsured children are supposed to be available for a three-year period. Hence, this transfer of funds will mean that many children, who were supposed to be helped when Congress enacted SCHIP, will not receive this relief.

"Recently unemployed workers and their families would be best served by providing new federal funding for people at risk of becoming uninsured. Such funds would best be utilized through the adoption of a two-track proposal: first, providing subsidies for people eligible for COBRA coverage so that they can afford such coverage; and second, providing Medicaid coverage for people, especially those who were laid off from small businesses, who are ineligible for COBRA."

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org