Moran touts health care initiative

By Bob Stuart

Published: February 14, 2009

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Brian Moran made a Waynesboro stop Friday to unveil a health-care plan that would insure every Virginia child and assist small businesses and seniors with coverage.

Moran’s “Healthy Virginia: Cover Every Kid” plan would raise the eligibility of families for the federal state children’s health insurance program from 200 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, eliminate the four-month waiting period for children who lose private insurance and qualify for the program and offer automatic enrollment at birth for all children from qualifying families.

Moran said this initiative would cut the number of uninsured Virginia children, currently estimated at more than 200,000, putting the state 32nd among the 50 states.

The candidate said the state could appropriate money to match federal funds for the insurance program.

“No parent should go to bed without access to health care,” said Moran. “It’s a moral obligation and an economic necessity. It’s a smart investment for the future.”

In addition to the health care for children, Moran’s plan calls for new financial incentives for affordable long-term care for seniors and eliminating waiting lists for home-delivered meals.

The plan also would create small business insurance pools to allow owners to insure their employees and allow young people to stay on the family insurance plan until age 26.

“In a struggling economy, creating jobs is extremely important, but health care is also important,” Moran said.

One in every seven Virginians lacks health care, Moran said.

A former Northern Virginia delegate and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Moran is locked in a tough three-way fight for the party’s gubernatorial nomination with Bath Sen. Creigh Deeds and national Democratic insider Terry McAuliffe. The race will culminate with a June 9 statewide primary.

Deeds’ press secretary, Brooke Borkenhagen, said his campaign will roll out a health care plan in the next few weeks after he finishes this session of the General Assembly.

She said Deeds “continues to fight to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Virginians.”

Borkenhagen said Deeds “has crafted innovative legislation to ensure Virginians have the right to choose which doctor they visit and the ability to purchase prescription medicines at a reasonable cost.”

Elisabeth Smith, McAuliffe’s press secretary, said he is conducting economic roundtables across the commonwealth and will unveil policy initiatives after finishing the roundtables.

Moran made noise at last weekend’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Richmond, where he questioned whether the Democratic Party would be one of the people or big money.

In an obvious swipe at McAuliffe, Moran said he was a “fighter not a fundraiser.”

On Friday, Moran reinforced his ties to the last two Virginia governors, Timothy M. Kaine and Mark Warner.

“It’s one thing to talk about governing like Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. I was there in the trenches fighting with them,” he said of his legislative experience.

£194000 price tag of raising a child

Raising a child born today could cost £193,772 up to their 21st birthday.

Bringing up a child in modern times is a costly affair, getting more expensive every year and forcing parents to cut back spending significantly, according to the sixth annual Cost of a Child survey from LV= Insurance.

LV chief executive Mike Rogers said: "Every parent knows how their hard-earned savings can dip thanks to eye-watering education and childcare costs."

The cost of raising a child rose four per cent over the last year - with rises in every category of spending – except pocket money allocations.

Equally startling is the figure of £133.7 billion – the cost of raising all 690,013 children born in the UK in 2007.

This equals £9,227 a year, £769 a month or £25 a day per child.

This rising cost is compounded by the new figures which show families are cutting back on all aspects of family life – with spending on holidays, clothing, food and leisure activities all affected.

Mr Rogers said: "Our research shows that parents are being very resourceful when it comes to budgeting and cutting back on non-essential spend.”

The survey of 4,027 adults showed that 81 per cent of parents have cut down on family spending, while 79 per cent admit to buying lower cost and ‘value’ items.

A spokesperson for LV commented that these cut backs are a result of families feeling the pressure financially in the economic downturn.

Based on these statistics, the cost looks set to rise further, with LV predicting the cost of a child reaching £265,577 by the year 2012 – approximately £12,500 a year.

David White, chief executive of The Children's Mutual, said: "These headline figures may look intimidating, but when you consider that nearly a fifth of the amount being quoted is the cost of university, there is hope for parents."

He added saving – though difficult in the recession – will help to reduce the financial hit of costs such as university fees.

"While in these credit crunched times finding significant sums for saving may be difficult, we believe it will be far harder for families to find the same amount as a cash lump sum in the future.

"We’re urging parents of younger children to talk to wider family today, to ask if they would consider saving for the child’s future so that in 18 years' time, they don’t miss out."

John Ellul

NCLR Urges Senate To Include Legal Immigrant Children In Health Bill

Washington, DC-Calling it "an investment in a stronger and more secure future for all Americans," Janet Murguํa, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, today at a press conference on Capitol Hill called for the U.S. Senate to include legal immigrant children and pregnant women in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill. Along with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), NCLR praised the House of Representatives for including this vulnerable segment of the Latino community in its SCHIP reauthorization bill, and it urged the Senate to make the same commitment to promoting a healthier America by passing the legislation.

"It is inexcusable that Latino children, who make up a significant portion our nation's population, continue to be the most uninsured ethnic group in the country," said Murguํa. "Excluding legal immigrant children from this bill would result in an irresponsible and dangerous health care policy."

Under the 1996 welfare reform, immigrant children and pregnant women are subject to a five-year bar before they may qualify for coverage through Medicaid or SCHIP. "I haven't met anyone who isn't outraged when they hear what the current five-year bar on legal immigrant children means: that a girl with asthma has to go through five years of attacks before she can get an inhaler, and a boy with cancer has to wait five years for chemotherapy," said Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ). "Five years truly is a lifetime for a child. It's time to remove this bar and include coverage for legal immigrant children and pregnant women in the bill to reauthorize SCHIP, so we can take a major step toward making sure no child goes to bed at night without health care in the greatest nation on earth."

Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), who introduced the measure under the "Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act" (ICHIA), stated, "I have worked hard for a decade on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to follow the lead of the House and include ICHIA in SCHIP. The need for child health insurance coverage in states with large immigrant populations is reaching crisis proportions. The law should not discriminate against legal immigrants; health care is too important an issue."

"The five-year waiting period can mean the difference between preventing or treating health conditions that can affect a child's prospects for a healthy and productive life-or leaving those conditions undetected and not treated, costing taxpayers much more in the long run. This is not only a matter of common sense, but also an opportunity to show the values that define us as a country," said Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA).