Rush efforts to secure much needed protections for children's health highlighted by Marian Wright Edelman

CHICAGO – The concerted efforts by U. S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush to ensure that a strong public option and the needs of children are effectively represented in whatever health care legislation emerges from Congress were highlighted, yesterday, by the esteemed children's rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman in commentary in the Huffington Post.  In her opinion editorial, "Unfair Children's Health Disparities: More Reason for Reform," Edelman, the legendary children's rights activist and president of the Children's Defense Fund, said this,

"In all of the recent debate over who deserves access to health care in our wealthy country, one often forgotten fact is that this is one more area where black children and other children of color have always been left behind. Of the nine million uninsured children in America, minority children are uninsured and underinsured at far greater rates than white children. One in 13 white children is uninsured, compared to one in five Latino children, one in five American Indian children, one in eight Black children, and one in nine Asian/Pacific Islander children…. It doesn't have to be this way, and we all need to tell that to our Members of Congress now. …. Health reform must make the system simpler and more equitable for children in communities of color. However, current health reform legislation in the House of Representatives fails to include the reforms children need. In order to create a level playing field for all children in this country, Congress must guarantee affordable coverage, head-to-toe benefits, and a simple and equitable enrollment process for every child in America. And in no case should some children be worse off under reform than they are now. Congressman Bobby Rush is trying to do the right thing for children. Tell your Members of Congress and Speaker Pelosi to support the Rush Amendments in the House health reform bill."

Congressman Rush is a subcommittee chairman on the Energy and Commerce Committee and continues to work aggressively to ensure that meaningful health care reform is passed during this session of Congress.  On July 31, during the E & C full committee markup, Rush succeeded in securing the adoption of an important amendment to the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200) that ensures consumers reap well deserved savings for their prescription drug medications.  If signed into law, the Rush amendment would eliminate the so-called "pay-for-delay" practice that allows drug manufacturers to delay the entry, into the market, of affordable generic drugs.

Rush continues to work with the Children's Defense Fund and a national coalition of non-profit children's and civil rights organizations to ensure that a meaningful public option and provisions that protect the needs of children are included in the final health care package.  Some of those provisions include the continuation of early and periodic screening and diagnostic treatment services (EPSDT) benefits to children, cost protections for low-income families and simplified enrollment processes for children receiving public benefits.

Here's a link to the complete commentary by Marian Wright Edelman:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/unfair-childrens-health-d_b_249921.html

# # #