Speech
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| May 14, 2005 | ||
| MESSAGE TO AMERICA CBC WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS |
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| Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay | ||
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WE MUST EXPAND ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, QUALITY AND RELIABLE HEALTH COVERAGE FOR AMERICA’S FAMILIES On behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, I want to speak with you about a national disgrace...45 million Americans who still have no health insurance. President Bush and the Republican leadership have left these hard working, law abiding citizens on the edge of a family tragedy. Their healthcare policies do a good job of protecting the profits of HMOs and huge insurance companies, but they do very little to protect uninsured patients. This healthcare disparity falls most heavily on African Americans, Latinos and working class parents. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million Americans have joined the ranks of the uninsured. In my home state, we have over seven hundred thousand uninsured residents. Democrats in Congress are working to pass three bills that could cut the number of uninsured Americans in half. I support all three of them. These bills target three at-risk groups who are most likely to be uninsured…the nearly elderly; low-income working parents and employees of small businesses who can’t afford to offer healthcare benefits. The Small Business Health Insurance Promotion Act would create new purchasing pools to provide comprehensive, affordable healthcare coverage for small employers and the self-employed. This act would provide a 50% tax credit to help small businesses and the self-employed cover the cost of health insurance. The Family Care Act builds on the success of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid which together provide health insurance for more than 55 million Americans… primarily children, mothers and the disabled. While we have made some progress in reducing the number of uninsured children, parents are being left behind. FamilyCare would provide incentives for states to extend coverage under these programs to low-income working parents. There are about 7.5 million uninsured parents whose children are eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP. Allowing states to cover families together is good common sense. The Medicare Early Access Act builds on Medicare’s history of providing quality and cost-effective care for older Americans by giving uninsured Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 the option to buy into Medicare to obtain their health care. They would pay a fair premium and would be allowed to enroll in Medicare early. To make these premiums affordable, enrollees would receive a 75 percent refundable, advanceable credit. This is an urgent bill because Americans between 55 and 65 are losing health insurance faster than any other group. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration’s proposals for helping the uninsured focus on creating more tax giveaways that would benefit huge corporations and insurance companies, and yet, would do virtually nothing to help cover the 45 million Americans who are still at great risk. According to Professor Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University, the Administration’s proposals would reduce the ranks of the uninsured by at most, 2.1 million people. That’s less than five percent of the uninsured. The other 95 percent would still be unprotected. Government has limited resources and we can’t do everything for everybody. But the three-bill package that I’ve just described would help 20 million of our fellow citizens get the healthcare coverage that they deserve. In 1948, President Harry Truman said this about covering the uninsured. “We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of achieving health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the nation.” Harry Truman was right. Covering the uninsured is America’s business, because America will benefit when every citizen has access to quality and affordable healthcare. This is Congressman William Lacy Clay, Thank you. # # |
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