Children's Defense Fund's Healthy Child Campaign Receives More Than 1000 Endorsements

    WASHINGTON, June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the State Children's
 Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) comes before Congress this month, more
 than 1,000 prominent faith, public official, education, health and social
 services providers and child advocacy groups and leaders representing tens
 of millions of people in America urged Congress and President Bush today to
 ensure health coverage for all uninsured children and pregnant women. These
 diverse groups come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and
 have a broad range of missions but share one common goal: to get Congress
 and President Bush to provide health coverage for all nine million
 uninsured children now. Ninety percent of uninsured children live in
 working families.
     "The diversity and size of this broad coalition reflect the fact that
 Americans know that covering all uninsured children is the smart, sensible
 and moral thing to do now," said CDF President Marian Wright Edelman.
 "Since the 110th Congress convened in January, more than 280,000 children
 have been born without health insurance -- one every 47 seconds. Our
 leaders in all parties have the power and responsibility to ensure all
 children the health coverage they need to survive, thrive and learn. Nine
 million uninsured children cannot wait until our nation acts on long
 overdue health coverage for everyone."
     Endorsers of CDF's Healthy Child Campaign include a wide range of
 local, state, and national organizations and community leaders:
     -- Faith leaders representing tens of millions of people including all
        four major Black Baptist denominations with a combined membership of 14
        million; all three African American Methodist denominations with five
        million members; the National Islamic Society of North America, the
        Interfaith Alliance, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, mainstream
        denominations including the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church
        USA, and member communions of the National Council of Churches of
        Christ, which represent 44 million people of faith who believe child
        health coverage is a moral as well as practical imperative.
 
     -- Elected officials including New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and
        Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco; the United States Conference of
        Mayors (representing more than 1,000 cities and approximately 125
        million people); the National Conference of Black Mayors; 63 individual
        mayors including Antonio R. Villaraigosa (LA), Gavin Newsom (San
        Francisco), Ron Dellums (Oakland), and Adrian Fenty (DC); and the New
        Orleans City Council.
 
     -- Major education networks including the National Association of School
        Boards of Education, American Association of School Administrators, and
        National Association of Secondary School Principals serving
        approximately 50 million children in public school whose learning is
        profoundly impacted by health and mental health care.
 
     -- More than 80 national civil rights and women's organizations including
        the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
        National Action Network, National Urban League, the Rainbow PUSH
        Coalition, the National Council of Negro Women, Church Women United,
        the United Methodist Women, and the National Organization for Women
        (NOW), Jack and Jill, the Links, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma
        Theta.
 
     -- More than 350 state and local advocacy organizations and providers
        including the Minnesota Public Health Association, Harlem Children's
        Zone, the Ohio Grandparent/Kinship Coalition, Family Voices, and Youth
        Build.
     These supporters believe the following principles of the Healthy Child
 Campaign must be included in any federal child health legislation enacted
 by Congress this year:
     -- Enrollment and renewal should be automatic and simplified to ensure
        easy access for children and pregnant women to get and keep health
        coverage.
     The CDF-endorsed All Healthy Children Act, HR 1688, introduced in the
 House by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and co-sponsored by 55 others, will be
 introduced in the Senate this week by Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT).
     For more information about the Healthy Child Campaign including a
 complete list of endorsers, a summary of the All Healthy Children Act and
 stories of uninsured children, visit
 http://www.childrensdefense.org/healthychild. Also visit
 http://www.electsusie.com and sign 10-year-old Susie Flynn's petition.
 Susie Flynn is running for President as a voice for the nine million
 uninsured children to encourage adults in America to stand up for all
 healthy children now.
 
 

SOURCE Children's Defense Fund