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Children Enrolled in Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
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Weekly News Digest

High Medical Costs Are Weighing Heavily on Both the Insured and Uninsured
According to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund, "Americans are struggling to pay medical bills and are accumulating medical debt at an increasing rate" due to health care costs that are rising faster than incomes and the soaring prices of food, gas and other items, reports the Washington Post.

Source(s): Joshi, Washington Post, 8/20/08

Other Issues Surpass Health Care as Top Concern
The issue of health care is "languishing far behind the economy, the war and the price of gas" as a top concern among Americans this election year, with one CBS poll from August showing voter interest on the subject at 8 percent, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Source(s): Zuckman, Chicago Tribune, 8/21/08

Uninsured Americans Will Pay $30 Billion in Health Care Costs in 2008
"Americans who go without health insurance for any part of 2008 will spend $30 billion out of pocket for health care and they will get $56 billion worth of free care," according to a study from researchers at George Mason University and the Urban Institute, reports Reuters.

Source(s): Reuters, 8/25/08

Ad Campaign Used to Fight Universal Health Coverage Returns to Promote Reform
The "Harry and Louise" characters that were used in 1994 in an advertising campaign that opposed President Bill Clinton’s plan for universal health coverage have returned to the air waves, but now they are "asking the presidential contenders to make health care their top domestic priority," reports the Associated Press.

Source(s): Freking, Associated Press, 8/19/08

Kentucky Criticized for Not Enrolling Eligible Kids in State Health Program
More than 60,000 uninsured children from low-income families are eligible for the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP), but the state has not done a good job informing parents about the program and has made the application process too complicated, according to a report by Kentucky Voices for Health, reports the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.).

Source(s): Yetter, Courier-Journal, 8/19/08

Thousands of California Children Will Likely Lose Health Insurance
Policy changes by the California Legislature regarding the state’s public health care programs, along with cuts to privately run health care initiatives, are expected to lead to thousands of children losing their coverage, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Source(s): Rau, Los Angeles Times, 8/24/08

About Three-Quarters of Uninsured in Massachusetts Now Have Coverage
Since the launch of Massachusetts’ groundbreaking universal health care program in June 2006, 439,000 previously uninsured residents have gained coverage--nearly three-quarters of the 600,000 residents who were estimated to have lacked health insurance--"and nearly half of them signed up for private insurance not funded by taxpayers," reports the Boston Globe.

Source(s): Lazar, Boston Globe, 8/20/08