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How National Health Reform Can Still Happen for Texas Children and Families - Friday, January 22, 2010

With Massachusetts' election of a new U.S. Senator who has vowed to campaign against health reform, many media reports, such as this article in the New York Times, have rightly suggested that the initiative to reform the nation's health care system, including for 1.4 million uninsured Texas kids, is at risk. In light of how far the reform effort has come over the past year, however, several advocacy organizations and health policy experts are urging Congress to press ahead to reform the nation's health care system. In normal circumstances, House and Senate leadership would work out a compromise between their respective bills, but today 47 health policy experts called on the House to simply pass the Senate version, according to The New Republic. (This would allow the bill to move forward to the president's desk for signature; House members could secure agreements about making changes to parts of the bill they found problematic through a process called reconciliation, which requires only 50 Senate votes to pass, not the 60 that a new compromise health reform bill would have to have.) Advocates for health consumers, children, and families are also signing on to a letter from the national nonprofit Families USA, calling on Congress to move forward with reform. Families USA notes that in Texas alone more than 4 million currently uninsured people would gain health coverage under the Senate bill. To read the letter and sign-on for your organization: click here.


 

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