Human Services News

From AARP:

AARP-Texas asked Gov. Rick Perry today to weigh in on behalf of the uninsured children of Texas and urge President Bush to sign a bill passed by the House yesterday and expected to be passed by the Senate which reauthorizes and strengthens the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

A copy of a letter to the Governor is attached.

On behalf of our 2.3 million AARP members in Texas, I am asking for your support in calling on President Bush to sign the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion bill.

Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation.

Twenty-two percent of children in Texas lack health insurance, compared to 12 percent of uninsured children nationally.

Many of these uninsured children live in families with low-wage working parents who are either not offered health insurance through their job, or who cannot afford the coverage they are offered.

The SCHIP program is crucial: it provides crucial health care coverage to those children in financially strapped families, and it brings millions of federal dollars into the Texas economy.

During the 80th Texas Legislative Session, our legislators listened to the voices of their constituents and worked across party lines to restore 2003 budget cuts to the CHIP program.

The people of Texas have spoken, and they are clearly demanding that the children of Texas have access to health insurance.

It is our hope that, with your support, President Bush will place the needs of children above partisan politics and take the steps necessary to reauthorize and strengthen the SCHIP program.

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