ACP enthusiastically supports introduction of Bipartisan Healt...( WHO: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-O...),Health

WHO: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Congressman Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), co-sponsors of the Bipartisan Health CARE (Coverage, Affordability, Responsibility and Equity Act) Act; and David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians

WHAT: Press briefing to discuss Health CARE Act

WHERE: Cannon Terrace, Capitol Hill

WHEN: Wednesday, May 16, 2007, at 11:00 a.m.

According to information from the Census Bureau, 44.8 million Americans lacked health coverage for all of 2005. Without insurance, children and adults do not have access to regular preventive and screening checks, and often delay obtaining treatment until they are seriously ill. This leads to an increase in premature deaths and unnecessary suffering, and produces staggering costs to society: lost employee days from work, higher health care bills (and taxes and premiums) for those who have insurance, and increased emergency room visits and hospital stays.

The Health CARE Act would give states new options to cover the working poor: an income-based option to provide Medicaid coverage, and a new option to guarantee coverage to eligible children under the S-CHIP program without being subject to federal funding caps. States that expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals up to 100% of the federal poverty level would have their increased costs fully subsidized through an increase in the federal matching rate (Federal Medical Assistance Percentages or FMAP). States that guarantee S-CHIP coverage to all eligible children would be exempted from federal funding caps.