Campaign Will Address Children’s Health Coverage
More than 30 health and education organizations on Tuesday launched a campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the millions of U.S. children who live without health insurance, the Washington Times reports. The launch of the Campaign for Children's Health Care comes as "Congress prepares to" consider the reauthorization of SCHIP next year, the Times reports.
SCHIP currently provides coverage for more than five million U.S. children (Rutledge, Washington Times, 7/12). However, a study by the Catholic Health Association, which is participating in the campaign, estimates that more than nine million U.S. children remain uninsured (CongressDaily, 7/12).
The coalition -- led by Families USA; CHA; the Presbyterian Church; and labor, education, provider and other organizations -- seeks to raise awareness of the problem to expand health insurance to more children and also "ensure that current coverage levels do not diminish with the reauthorization [of SCHIP] next year," CQ Health Beat reports.
In a recent CHA survey of more than 800 likely voters, only 13% of respondents said children were among the most likely to be uninsured (Reichard, CQ Health Beat, 7/11).
The campaign will host several grassroots events, such as town hall meetings and essay writing contests for K-12 students, and will encourage Congress to expand children's healthcare coverage via an online petition that is currently in circulation, Congress Daily reports (Congress Daily, 7/12).