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Committee to Elect
Vivian Houghton Attorney General
News Release
For immediate release: Wednesday, October 3, 2002
Houghton Appalled by
Lack of Available Health Care for Delawareans
Supports the Delaware Health Security Act to meet
Delaware's health care needs
Contact:
Robert Bohm, Campaign Coordinator
(302)239-2572 rebsalerno@msn.com
Wilmington - Vivian Houghton, Green Party Candidate for
Attorney General, today reiterated her strong support for the Delaware
Health Security Act. "It is clear to me that Delaware's poor and
working families are suffering terribly due to a lack of basic health care
being available to them," said Houghton. "We can no longer wait for
a national health care program to see to our citizens needs. Delaware must
and can provide universal health care to all its citizens."
According to recent estimates there are 96,000 uninsured
Delawareans. A large portion of them are the working poor, who do
not qualify for Medicaid, are not provided health insurance by their
employers, and whose income is insufficient to purchase basic health care
coverage. Some 32,000 children in Delaware, nearly one out of every six,
are without health insurance. Over 27% of our poorest families with
children are estimated to be without means to pay for health care.
"We are fooling ourselves to think that market competition
in the health insurance field will lead to better coverage for
people in Delaware," said J. Roy Cannon, Green Party member and Mental
Health Counselor. He cited Pauline Rosenau whose 2001 study found
that market based reform has not expanded health insurance coverage.
Instead, it has increased the number of uninsured and underinsured.
"Like it did in banning smoking in public places, Delaware can take
the lead in improving the health of its people by passing a single-payer
universal health care plan that uses the existing medical system but
ensures that everyone has access to it. I know that as Attorney
General, Vivian Houghton will work with us to see this vision of health
care made available for all Delaware citizens come to reality."
"We need to move beyond piece-meal and incremental efforts
to make sure our citizens can access health care," said Karen Lienau,
Wilmington Social Worker and Green Party member who works with some of
Delaware's poorest families . "Vivian Houghton knows this and is
willing to stand up and put people's needs first. The huge insurance
companies don't need our protection - Delaware's poor and working poor do."
In her "People First" campaign, Houghton also
noted her immediate plans to enforce medical parity laws when elected
Delaware's Attorney General with regards to mental and physical health, no
matter what a person's age, economic situation or race/ethnicity.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Committee to Elect Vivian Houghton Attorney General
800 West Street
Wilmington, Delaware 19801
(302)239-2572
agcandidate@vivianhoughton.com
http://vivianhoughton.com/vivian
Green Party of Delaware
P. O. Box 6044
Wilmington, Delaware 19804
(302)738-9963
greenpartyde@yahoo.com
http://www.gpde.org
Green Party of the United States
1314 18th Street, Lower Level
Washington, D.C. 20036
866-41GREEN (toll free)
info@greenpartyus.org
http://greenpartyus.org
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