ACP-ASIM Commends President Clinton on Health Care Proposal

Eventual Goal Should be Healthcare for All Americans.

(Washington, DC): President Clinton's plan to expand health care coverage to the uninsured, as presented in the State of the Union, is a positive step toward the eventual goal of universal coverage, according to a statement released today by the American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM).

"President Clinton's proposal contains many of the same elements as a plan released in early 1999 by the College," said ACP-ASIM President Whitney Addington, MD, FACP. "Like President Clinton, we believe that the expansion of existing government programs coupled with the use of tax credits can help significantly reduce the number of America's uninsured. Any incremental program, however, should be part of a larger program to eventually reach universal health insurance coverage.

The ACP-ASIM plan proposed expanding health care access by dedicating an amount equal to 12.6 percent of the budget surplus over the next five years to:

• Enact a refundable tax credit for uninsured Americans whose incomes fall between 100-150 percent of the poverty level.
• Expand Medicaid coverage to provide coverage to all Americans with incomes up to 100 percent of poverty.
• Expand funding for Medicaid enrollment outreach.
• Provide federal subsidies for temporarily unemployed and uninsured persons to obtain coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) program.

"We are delighted to see that the plight of the uninsured is once again dominating the public agenda," said Addington. "Our recent study No Health Insurance: It's Enough to Make You Sick clearly demonstrates that a lack of health insurance deserves to be treated with the same sense of urgency as cigarette smoking or alcohol abuse. We urge every presidential and congressional candidate to commit to addressing this public health scourge during their first two years of office."

[Editor's Noted: A copy of No Health Insurance: It's Enough to Make You Sick can be viewed online at http://www.acponline.org/uninsured.]

Contacts

Jack E. Pope, ACP-ASIM Washington Office, 202-261-4556
Carolyn Albert, ACP-ASIM Washington Office, 202 261-4572

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