It was all the way back in 1992 when House Democrats stood with Governor Bob Casey to create CHIP, the program that provides basic health insurance and preventative care to children of working families, and that plan became the model for the nation. This week President Bush vetoed legislation that would have invested money to help uninsured children in families earning up to double the poverty rate: an annual income of $34,340 for a family of three, or $41,300 for a family of four.

 

To add insult to injury, he signed the veto before traveling over hill and dale to come to Lancaster County -- where 7,000 of Pennsylvania's 165,000 kids covered by CHIP live. Click here to see what Lancaster’s Rep. Mike Sturla about the president's exceptionally bad timing.

 

The low- and middle-income working parents -- NOT welfare recipients -- struggling to meet their kids' basic necessities are what Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program is all about, unfortunately the president doesn't see that, even if 75 percent of Pennsylvanians polled agree we need to fund this program.
 

 

Health care for kids, health care for all

 

But access to affordable health care isn't just for sick kids, it's for everyone in the Commonwealth. That's why we stood with Governor Ed Rendell this week to introduce a proposal that would "Cover All Pennsylvanians" by allowing people to purchase affordable insurance.