The Hill is reporting this national news. Henry Waxman today announced that House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on single-payer health care.
This is vital for Texas. We have more uninsured than any other single state, per Susan Combs, Comptroller.
We have more underinsured than any other single state, according to the Texas Hospital Association (Warning: PDF at Link) and our situation's not improving.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on a government-run, single-payer system.
"A lot of members on our committee want a vote on that," said Waxman said in an interview. "I believe their wishes will be accommodated."
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) offered a single-payer amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, but withdrew it after Waxman said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had promised a floor vote.
Please, don't let this opportunity escape. Texas has a huge number of Congressmembers, and while many are unabashed opponents of not just President Obama but a single-payer health care program (Medicare for Everybody, which the GOP refers to as "socialized medicine,") all of them are up for re-election in 2010. Let them know we expect them to vote YES on Single Payer on the House Floor: it's the right thing to do.
(It's one of the steps President Lyndon Baines Johnson foresaw when he signed the original Medicare bill, too.)
Let's put a stop to the misery -- as the Houston Chronicle tells us, Texas parents are asking for pay cuts to qualify their children for insurance, because they can't afford coverage.
Among the nearly 6 million Texans who lacked health insurance last year was a sick, 3-year-old Pasadena girl whose father asked for a pay cut so his family could qualify for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Josh Hebert's employer never responded to that request, said his wife, Kyla Hebert. The Heberts finally qualified by putting Katie, who suffers from brain lesions, and her older brother into day care, an expense that the program allows them to deduct from their income.
"We would much rather have them at home," Kyla Hebert said, adding that Katie missed a number of therapy appointments that her parents couldn't afford until they finally got her enrolled in CHIP.
The Heberts were among 45.7 million American families without health insurance in 2007, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Texas' overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country.
Yes, Texas Democrats, We Can -- it's up to us.
Let's do this! |
