January 14, 2009 - House passage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a positive sign that the new Congress is prepared to act swiftly to protect the health of children who might otherwise be denied access to high-quality health care.   The legislation would help ensure that an additional four million children from low-income families including those who may be born with heart-defects and legal immigrant children are given a stronger safety net for medical treatment to lead healthy and productive lives.  The American Heart Association also supports provisions to expand coverage to low-income pregnant women to reduce birth defects and the inclusion of a demonstration project promoting evidence-based strategies for communities, schools and health professionals to help combat childhood obesity. We strongly encourage the Senate to pass the bill in the coming days and make this an important first step towards more comprehensive reform of our health system for the new Congress and the new administration.

And as the tobacco industry devises new campaigns to addict more consumers and increase their risk for heart disease and stroke, the association strongly supports an increase in the federal excise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products to support funding the SCHIP reauthorization.   The increased tax on tobacco products will help discourage people of all ages from smoking, especially children and young adults, and reduce future healthcare costs.  However, the federal tax increase should be the tip of the iceberg in the fight against tobacco this year.  We urge lawmakers to pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act as soon as possible to reduce smoking-related deaths and illnesses and curtail Big Tobacco’s deceptive marketing practices.
 

For more information, please contact Suzanne Ffolkes at (202) 785-7929.