[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE CHILD HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 2004

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to help working Americans provide 
for their children's health care needs by introducing the Child Health 
Care Affordability Act. The Child Health Care Affordability Act 
provides parents with a tax credit of up to $500 for health care 
expenses of dependent children. Parents caring for a child with a 
disability, terminal disease, cancer, or any other health condition 
requiring specialized care would receive a tax credit of up to $3,000 
to help cover their child's health care expenses.
  The tax credit would be available to all citizens, regardless of 
whether or not they itemize their deductions. The credit applies 
against both income and payroll tax liability. The tax credits provided 
in this bill will be especially helpful to those Americans whose 
employers cannot afford to provide health insurance for their 
employees. These workers must struggle to meet the medical bills of 
themselves and their families. This burden is especially heavy on 
parents whose children have a medical condition; such as cancer or a 
physical disability that requires long-term or specialized health care.
  As an OB-GYN who has had the privilege of delivering more than four 
thousand babies, I know how important it is that parents have the 
resources to provide adequate health care for their children. The 
inability of many working Americans to provide health care for their 
children is rooted in one of the great inequities of the tax code--
Congress' failure to allow individuals the same ability to deduct 
health care costs that it grants to businesses. As a direct result of 
Congress' refusal to provide individuals with health care related tax 
credits, parents whose employers do not provide health insurance have 
to struggle to provide health care for their children. Many of these 
parents work in low-income jobs; oftentimes, their only recourse for 
health care is the local emergency room.
  Sometimes parents are forced to delay seeking care for their children 
until minor health concerns that could have been easily treated become 
serious problems requiring expensive treatment! If these parents had 
access to the type of tax credits provided in the Child Health Care 
Affordability Act, they would be better able to provide care for their 
children, and our nation's already overcrowded emergency rooms would be 
relieved of the burden of having to provide routine care for people who 
otherwise cannot afford it.
  According to research on the effects of this bill done by my staff 
and legislative counsel, the benefit of these tax credits would begin 
to be felt by joint filers with incomes slightly above $18,000 per 
year, or single income filers with incomes slightly above $15,000 
per year. Clearly, this bill will be of the most benefit to low-income 
Americans balancing the demands of taxation with the needs of their 
children.

  Under the Child Health Care Affordability Act, a struggling singling 
mother with an asthmatic child would at last be able to provide for her 
child's needs, while a working-class family will not have to worry 
about how they will pay the bills if one of their children requires 
lengthy hospitalization or some other form of specialized care.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress has a moral responsibility to provide tax 
relief so that low-income parents struggling to care for a sick child 
can better meet their child's medical expenses. Some may say that we 
cannot enact the Child Health Care Affordability Act because it would 
cause the government to lose revenue. But, who is more deserving of 
this money, Congress or the working parents of a sick child?
  The Child Health Care Affordability Act takes a major step toward 
helping working Americans meet their health care needs by providing 
them with generous health care related tax cuts and tax credits. I urge 
my colleagues to support the pro-family, pro-health care tax cuts 
contained in the Child Health Care Affordability Act.

                          ____________________