Gov. Schwarzenegger Applauds Pres Obama for Signing Legislation to Provide Health Care to Hundreds of Thousands of CA Children

02/04/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the statement below following President Obama’s signing of bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide states with a stable source of funding for four and a half years. In California, SCHIP is the primary source of funding for Healthy Families, which covers hundreds of thousands of children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal but who can’t afford private insurance.

“During an extremely difficult time for many California families, it’s more critical than ever to continue a successful program that keeps hundreds of thousands of California’s children healthy,” Governor Schwarzenegger said. “Protecting this program has been a priority of mine, and I applaud President Obama for signing this bipartisan legislation and following through on our shared commitment to ensuring that children who need it most have a healthy start in life. This is the first of many steps that are urgently needed to fix our broken health care system so that it is more affordable and accessible for everyone.”

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During the Bush administration, the Governor led a bipartisan effort to protect federal funding for SCHIP. In September 2007, the Governor and 29 states wrote a letter to President Bush urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reconsider new rules that could significantly reduce the number of children with health insurance. The Governor also expressed his disappointment when President Bush vetoed legislation, passed by a strong bipartisan majority of Congress, to extend SCHIP in October 2007. Since that time, the Governor and his administration have continued to push for federal funding for SCHIP.

Source: California Governor