[Faith & Hunger] Calls Needed to Clinton / Schumer on SCHIP / CHP

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Here is an action alert from Familes USA.  SCHIP --- known in New York  as 
Child Health Plus  --- is up for reauthorization this year.   Estimates are that 
we need $50 billion nationally to fully fund children's  health insurance 
over the next five years, including SPITZER's proposed  expansion of Child Health 
Plus in New York  to cover kids up to 400% of the  federal poverty 
guidelines.  

Schumer is on Senate Finance and is  generally supportive of Child Health 
Plus but under the "pay go" rules in the  Senate any expansion of Child Health 
Plus must be paid for with offsets.   The offsets being considered are an 
increase in the federal tobacco tax and  taking back the "windfall" profits to 
insurers through the Medicare Advantage  plans.  Both Schumer and Clinton are  
getting thousands of calls from  the insurance and tobacco lobbies... we need 
calls to counter  these.

Please consider using this toll free number ( 1-800-828-0498) to  weigh in 
with our delegation.


Trudi Renwick
Senior  Economist
Fiscal Policy Institute
518-786-3156

Action Alert from  FAMILIES USA
If only we could pay top dollar for people to pose as grassroots  supporters 
and inundate congressional offices with duplicitous calls and emails  to earn 
votes. That's what Big Tobacco is doing.

The tobacco and private  insurance industries have been fighting hard to 
oppose full funding of SCHIP  (State Children's Health Insurance Program) because 
they see it as a detriment  to their bottom line. That's because the main 
funding sources on the table for  children's health coverage are increases in the 
tobacco tax and windfall  payments to private insurers. 

We can't let kids' health care get  hijacked by special interests and their 
bottom-line incentives. Tell your  Senators and Representative to support full 
funding ($50 billion) for SCHIP  legislation. 

Contact Congress now by email or by calling  1-800-828-0498.

As the Senate Finance Committee gets closer to finalizing  this legislation 
it is important that we keep up our momentum. Your previous  efforts to contact 
Congress have been tremendous, and we can't thank you enough  for the 
support. But we can't slow down now, when the other side is just gearing  up.

President Bush is continuing his campaign against kids' health  coverage, 
calling SCHIP "government health care" and trying to make it a  partisan issue by 
criticizing Democrats for trying to fully fund this incredibly  successful 
program. Instead, he advocates wasting money on inefficient tax  credits and 
giving more money to private health insurers. Let's not let him get  away with it.

By emailing and calling Congress, and telling your friends  to do the same, 
we can keep SCHIP legislation from being derailed by special  interests and the 
President's privatization attempts. 

Act now to keep  kids' health care on track.

The greater our efforts are now, the more  likely we'll see a piece of 
legislation that speaks to the needs of millions of  families and uninsured kids.  

Let's take the fate of children's  health care out of the hands of Big 
Tobacco and private insurers, and show  Congress what a real grassroots movement 
looks like.  


Sincerely,

Julia Eisman

e-Advocacy  Coordinator




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