NCJW Praises Progress on Health Care for Children

August 2, 2007, Washington, DC -- The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) today praised the House of Representatives for passing a strong bill that would renew and strengthen the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). NCJW President Phyllis Snyder released the following statement:

"Yesterday's vote by the House of Representatives in favor of strengthening and extending the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) -- the federally funded program that provides health insurance for the children of poor and working class families -- is an important step forward in the struggle to ensure that every American has access to affordable health care. Approximately eight million children remain uninsured although they are currently eligible for either SCHIP or Medicaid. The House bill will go a long way toward correcting this shameful situation.

"The Senate is considering a similar bipartisan bill. Although it is not as strong as the House bill, its passage offers hope to children now without access to health care. We urge the Senate to immediately pass its bill without weakening amendments. It is our hope that negotiations to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills will yield a strong, sufficiently funded SCHIP bill to send to the President.

"In a recent speech, President Bush threatened to veto the improvements Congress is making to SCHIP on philosophical grounds -- that the bill is "a strategy to get more people to be a part of a federalization of health care." We believe that the President needs to re-think his opposition to legislation that is providing what the private sector clearly has not, and act in the best interests of America's children by signing the bill that Congress will send him."

NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms for all through its network of 90,000 members, supporters, and volunteers nationwide. 

Contact:
Debbie Stillman
202 296 2588 x2; debbie@ncjwdc.org