Campaign for an American Solution begins nationwide discussion;
Advertising emphasizes need for reform
Link to the Ads: http://www.ahip.org/content/default.aspx?docid=23989
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP) today will launch the Campaign for an American
Solution by participating in a roundtable discussion with people who are
uninsured and community leaders in Columbus, Ohio.
The campaign is a new national grassroots and educational initiative to
build support for workable health care reform based on core principles
shared by the American people: coverage, affordability, quality, value,
choice and portability.
"It is unacceptable that 47 million Americans are uninsured," said
Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of AHIP. "We look forward to hearing
directly from the people of Columbus about their personal experiences and
to sharing ideas about fixing health care."
Today's discussion with uninsured Ohioans is the first of many events
that will take place this year. The campaign will engage in conversations
with Americans from all walks of life -- those with coverage and those
without, small business owners and employees, union leaders and members,
physicians and other providers, and working families from diverse
communities.
The campaign today also announced a new print and online advertising
effort to call attention to the challenges facing the U.S. health care
system and encourage Americans to join the campaign.
According to Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the
Uninsured estimates based on U.S. Census Bureau March 2006 and 2007 Current
Population Survey data, slightly more than 1.2 million Ohioans are
uninsured, or 11 percent of the state's population. The same report
estimates nearly 47 million Americans or 16 percent of Americans do not
have insurance coverage.
Over the past two years, AHIP's Board of Directors has developed a
range of comprehensive policy proposals to cover the uninsured, make health
care more affordable, improve the quality of care and guarantee access to
coverage in the individual market.
AHIP's plan to cover the uninsured is based on building on the
strengths of the current system to make health insurance accessible to all
Americans. Key elements of the plan include:
-- Making eligible for Medicaid every uninsured American living in
poverty.
-- Strengthening the Children's Health Insurance Program to include all
children from low-income uninsured families.
-- Creating a health care coverage tax credit for working families.
-- Giving workers real portability with a new tax-free portable health
account that can be used to purchase any type of health care coverage.
Individuals, employers, the federal government and state governments could
all contribute to the account.
-- Establishing a new federal performance grant program to assist
states in expanding access to coverage, reducing costs and improving
quality.
Today's discussion in Columbus is unscripted, on-the-record and open to
members of the news media. The uninsured Ohioans and community leaders
participating in the roundtable are not being compensated.
About the Campaign for an American Solution
The Campaign for an American Solution is a non-partisan, educational
and grassroots initiative of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the
national trade association whose members provide coverage to more than 200
million people. The Campaign's goal to build support for workable health
care reform based on core principles supported by the American people:
coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability. For more
information, please visit http://www.americanhealthsolution.org.
America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More
Than 200 Million Americans
SOURCE America's Health Insurance Plans
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Related links:
http://www.ahip.org
http://www.americanhealthsolution.org
CONTACT:
Robert Zirkelbach of America's Health
Insurance Plans, +1-202-778-8493
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