Health care

Civil Rights Groups Applaud Inclusion Of Strong Public Option

(Washington, DC) – The NAACP, National Urban League and The Black Leadership Forum commend Congress for passing a bill that will reform the current health care system. The bill will include a strong public option, and is expected to offer affordable and quality health care for all Americans.

"Tonight, our congress people made a decision to stop letting so many of our neighbors die for lack of affordable health care coverage. We applaud them for including the public option. The public option means more choice, more competition, lower costs, more families covered, and few forced into bankruptcy," said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “    » read more »

House Delivers On Election Promise. Now Is Time For Senate To Act

November 9, 2009 -- The following is the statement of Anna Burger, Chair, Change To Win, on the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

After generations of struggle and decades of delay, the U.S House of Representatives had the courage to act---and, to pass historic reform legislation to assure every American, regardless of age or income, access to high quality, affordable health care. The House’s action this November is why working men and women turned out at the polls last November. Health care is a key economic concern of working families—and, national health care reform is key to economic recovery and security for working families.    » read more »

November 8, 2009 -- TRENTON - New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine issued the following statement regarding the passage of health care reform legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives:

"I want to commend the United States House of Representatives, especially members of the New Jersey delegation, for the passage of this historic health care reform legislation. For far too long, working families have suffered and faced financial ruin at the hands of a health care industry dominated by corporate self-interest. Yesterday, we took a tremendous step toward changing that system.    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that 3,000 bottles of pediatric Tamiflu from the federal government is being distributed today to 29 hospitals and clinics across Connecticut.

Governor Rell said that pediatric Tamiflu is being delivered today to 17 acute care hospitals that have pediatric treatment programs and 12 community health clinics, which treat underserved populations in the state.

“Having Tamiflu on hand will enable our clinicians across the state to treat children’s symptoms as soon as possible,” Governor Rell said. “We continue to do all we can to help medical personnel at hospitals and clinics treat the growing cases of H1N1 influenza among children.”    » read more »

Urges Continued Work on Balanced Approach that Won’t Burden States with Unfair Costs

11/07/2009 --
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement on the need for comprehensive health care reform and the need for any reform measure to ensure that states are not placed with an unfair financial burden:

“I have long supported comprehensive health care reform and I am very encouraged by the progress happening in Congress, moving the nation closer than ever before to fixing our broken health care system. But, while I believe that successful elements of reform have been proposed in one form or another, additional work is required to ensure the final reform package contains the necessary balance to ensure success.    » read more »

November 8, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, issued the following statement commending the House of Representatives for passing comprehensive health care reform legislation. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 220-215.

“Last night’s passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act brings this nation one step closer to comprehensive health care reform.

“I applaud the House of Representatives for taking such a strong vote in favor of the American people and against our broken health care system.    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Daniel K. Inouye issued the following statement regarding his position on health-care.

“A civilized, democratic society like ours should help maintain the health and welfare of all our citizens. No one should be denied medical care or lose coverage because they can’t afford to pay to see a medical professional. Our system as it stands today is broken. Insurance premiums are rising out of control, thousands are losing coverage every day and millions of Americans are unable to attain basic health-care for themselves and their families.    » read more »

Hoosiers should have access to public website with complete legislative language, official cost estimates

November 9, 2009 -- Washington – Following this weekend’s passage of health care reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senator Evan Bayh called for full transparency as the debate moves to the Senate so Hoosiers can see the specifics of the legislation and evaluate the cost estimates.

“There is a lot of cynicism about Washington, D.C., these days, and regrettably a lot of it is justified,” Bayh said. “If you do things behind closed doors, it just feeds that cynicism. I hope there is no disagreement that the public has the right to know, to understand, and to see how their tax dollars are being used and their health care is being affected.”    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- Washington, DC - Senators Daniel Akaka, Jon Tester and Mark Begich held a press conference today to discuss legislation to improve health care services to America's veterans. A single Republican Senator is obstructing efforts to pass the bipartisan Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. Among other things, the legislation will provide benefits to caregivers of severely injured veterans, expand health care services to women, improve mental care treatment, provide outreach to homeless veterans and enhance VA medical services.    » read more »

Top 10 Ways NYC Benefits from Health Care Reform

11.08.09 -- New York City – Today, Representative Anthony Weiner (D – Brooklyn and Queens), a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and Co-Chair of the Caucus on the Middle Class, released a new study on the impact of the health reform bill which passed the House of Representatives late last night on New York City.    » read more »

11.07.09 -- Washington, DC – Representative Anthony Weiner (D – Brooklyn and Queens), a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and Co-Chair of the Caucus on the Middle Class, released the following statement on the passage of the House health care reform bill:

"About five and half months ago I said I believed that the coming few years in Washington were deeply important, and a time when ideas could matter.”

“I stated my commitment to working in Congress to take full advantage of this progressive era to pass important legislation. That decision meant I did not run for an office I have dreamed of, and one that recent events show was more open to contention than critics admitted.”    » read more »

Floor statement

11.07.09 -- “There are honorable people on both sides of this debate, but there are moments that come along and they come along about every generation or so that make it clear why this side of the aisle are Republicans and why we're Democrats. In 1935, when there was the Social Security Act and we decided we weren't going to allow 30percent of seniors to slip into poverty, Democrats proposed, Democrats passed, Republicans opposed Social Security.”    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Mel Watt (12th District of North Carolina) made the following statement about today’s House vote on the Affordable Health Care for America Act:

“Today the House took a historic step by passing the Affordable Health Care for America Act. In my seventeen (17) years of representing the constituents of the 12th District of North Carolina in the House, health care reform has been an unfulfilled dream as Congress continued to kick the can down the road providing no real reform for the American people. Passage of this bill begins the process of reforming our nation’s health insurance system and ensuring access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans.    » read more »

Washington, DC, Nov 9 -- Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35) cast the decisive vote in favor of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), historic legislation to provide affordable quality health care for all Americans. The legislation required 218 votes to pass the House of Representatives, and Congresswoman Waters was the 218th vote for the bill late Saturday night. (Following her vote one more Democrat and one Republican also voted in favor of the legislation to make the final tally 220-215.)    » read more »

November 7, 2009 -- Washington, DC –The U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, by a vote of 220-215. U.S. Representative Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) applauded the legislation. The following is Velázquez’s statement:

“For too long, millions of Americans have suffered without access to the medical treatment they need. Right now, too many Americans worry about how they will find health care coverage if they lose their job. On this day alone, 14,000 Americans will lose their coverage. And millions of our citizens, including one in three Hispanics, lack health insurance coverage.    » read more »