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AARP Conference Unites Government, Labor and Business to Address Health Care Crisis

By Jane Margesson
More than 10,000 AARP Members from Congressional District 6 Participate in Joint “The Cost of Doing Nothing” Tele-Town Hall in Plainsboro
 
PLAINSBORO, N.J.- Governor Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ), Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Verizon President Dennis Bone, SEIU Executive Director David McCann, NJHA Senior Vice-President Aline Holmes and AARP State President Sy Larson addressed AARP members today in a unique news conference. The conference was followed by a tele-town hall featuring Governor Corzine and Congressman Pallone in front of a live audience at AARP’s state office.
AARP’s call to action, “The Cost of Doing Nothing,” brought together some of the state’s most powerful leaders to tackle meaningful health care reform in the Garden State and in the nation. More than 10,000 AARP members from Congressional District 6 participated in the live tele-town hall with many sharing poignant stories about their struggle to afford quality health care.
AARP New Jersey State President, Sy Larson, addressed the state office audience of 40 local AARP members before the start of the town hall stating “Skyrocketing health care costs have working families struggling to make ends meet and are pushing employers to the brink.  But some in Washington are telling us that we cannot afford health reform, and that we need to wait. This just doesn’t make sense. Now is the time to fix the system so we have quality, affordable health care for all Americans.”
Congressman Pallone, the Chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was the primary sponsor and architect of the recently-signed Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. The new SCHIP law will expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. AARP, representing 40 million members nationwide, praised Pallone for his support of SCHIP. AARP is now urging the Congressman to make the call to all other Members of Congress to build upon federal and state partnerships, increasing access to health care. “Without action, the financial burden of health care will only get worse,” said Larson. “AARP is building on the groundswell of voices to work with elected officials to deliver on their campaign promises to fix health care.”
"Our success with CHIP this month made a down payment on the promise to cover every American, but we have more work to do to improve our nation’s broken health care system," Pallone said.  "We must
prevent more Americans from losing their health care coverage by reigning in spiraling costs, strengthening employer-sponsored insurance and strengthening our public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.  During these uncertain economic times, it is even more imperative that we act to cure our nation’s health care system to improve access for the uninsured and improve quality of care for every American."
"I would like to thank AARP for hosting this event today to discuss the important issue of reforming our health care system and for all the good work they do to promote health care access for all,” Pallone added.
Further, AARP also requested that Governor Corzine, participating in his fourth tele-town hall with AARP New Jersey, address the need of federal government action on health care reforms that would support state-based programs. AARP research shows that as health care costs continue to grow faster than wages, insurance will become more and more unaffordable. The share of income spent on family’s health insurance will nearly double between now and 2016 – jumping from 6.7 percent of median household income this year to 9 percent in 4 years, and to 12 percent in 8 years.
“As the economic meltdown continues, and unemployment rises, our nation’s broken health care system will worsen as tens of thousands, if not millions, more will lose insurance around the nation,” said Governor Corzine. “Today, we have a new partnership with Washington that recognizes there is a huge cost for doing nothing to repair that system — for individuals, for businesses, for the economy, for the state, and for the future of the nation. We must work together to develop substantial, meaningful, comprehensive health care reform.”
"Many thanks to AARP for bringing us together for this important forum to highlight an issue vital to all New Jerseyans," added Corzine.
AARP’s commitment to pushing for accessible, quality health care has been unwavering and its powerful membership base has been outspoken in their demand for action from elected officials. AARP has called for bipartisanship and an end to government gridlock. AARP’s social movement, Divided We Fail, unites AARP with powerful business and labor leaders in the United States who agree with AARP’s mission to see Government, consumers and businesses share the responsibility of fixing the health care crisis in America. Millions of AARP members and legislators across the country have signed Divided We Fail pledges which were delivered to the new Congress last month by AARP officials in Washington. Both Governor Corzine and Congressman Pallone signed the pledge in 2008. On today’s tele-town hall, AARP members were also able to electronically sign a Divided We Fail pledge addressed to President Obama.