CONAWAY JOINS PRESIDENT OBAMA AT SCHIP BILL SIGNING

CONAWAY JOINS PRESIDENT OBAMA AT BILL SIGNING
New Jersey Legislator Advocated for Federal SCHIP Program; New Law Represents an Abrupt Shift from Bush Policies, Provides Coverage For More Than 200,000 NJ Children

Delran, NJ - Seventh district Democratic Assemblyman Herb Conaway was at the White House Wednesday as President Barack Obama signed into law an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that will expand health care coverage to approximately 230,000 New Jersey children.                                                                                                     

States have depended upon SCHIP to cover health care for children of working families whose incomes are too high for Medicaid, but who cannot afford private insurance.  However, former President George W. Bush sought to implement rules that would have limited eligibility and effectively removed 10,000 New Jersey children from NJ Family Care, which administers the SCHIP program in the Garden State.

Conaway--a practicing physician who also serves as chairman of the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee--advocated heavily for the protection of the program at both the national and state levels.  As chairman of the National Conference of State Legislators' Health Committee, Conaway worked to prevent the Bush regulations from being imposed.  He also participated in events that brought attention to the importance of SCHIP for New Jersey's working families and to urge local legislators - like former Congressman James Saxton - to reauthorize the program in full.

"In my career as a South Jersey physician, I have seen first-hand how important SCHIP is in helping low-income and working class families cope with the rising costs of health care," said Conaway.  "By reauthorizing and expanding this program, President Obama is showing leadership that puts Washington on the right side of a very clear moral issue: safeguarding the health of our children."  

The new legislation includes a $31.5 billion expansion of SCHIP, which will positively impact approximately 4 million children nationwide.  

"With the ranks of the uninsured growing and the costs of health care rising, the last thing we should be doing is keeping vulnerable kids from being able to see a doctor," said Conaway.  "Now, more working families can get their children the world-class health care they deserve."

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