SENATE PASSES SMITH/WYDEN AMENDMENT
TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE FOR UNINSURED
Measure Will Provide $28 Billion Over Three Years to Help Uninsured
WASHINGTON, D.C.–Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) today offered an amendment to the 2002 budget that will increase spending by $28 billion over the next three years in order to provide health coverage for uninsured Americans. Smith and Wyden committed themselves to developing a plan for providing coverage to the uninsured as part of their joint agenda for the 107th Congress. The Senate passed the amendment by unanimous consent.
"There is no reason why working Americans who play by the rules should be denied healthcare. Congress must ensure that the working poor no longer have to live their lives in fear of falling ill or being injured," said Smith. "Our amendment not only provides that coverage but does so without expanding the federal government or creating new bureaucracies. It also will allow the states to maintain maximum flexibility in providing healthcare services."
"This amendment will provide a major breakthrough in American health care," said Wyden. "There are more than 43 million uninsured Americans; many of them are not old enough for Medicare and not poor enough for Medicaid. At a time when we are experiencing layoffs across the country, and some fragility in our economy, for the U.S. Congress not to respond now to the needs of the uninsured is nothing short of government malpractice."
The amendment will allow millions of Americans without health insurance to obtain coverage. The funds will be made available through existing federal-state healthcare programs such as the Children's Health Insurance Program and will be paid for with the government surplus. The amendment was also supported by Senators Snowe (R-ME), Santorum (R-PA) Baucus (D-MT), and Kennedy (D-MA).
