On the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor urged her colleagues to work to reauthorize the children’s health insurance program. She also sounded the alarm for the need to break down the barriers to access for Florida’s kids and families.

Castor said that it was ironic that a program that originated in Florida and has spread to the rest of the country should be facing such tough times in her state.

“Unfortunately, in the state of Florida, we are not living up to the initiation of the program, which was a success when we started, but because of bureaucratic barriers created under another Bush, under former Governor Bush, we have lost hundreds of thousands of children off the rolls,” said Castor. “They have created such a costly bureaucracy for parents and doctors that we are not able to serve kids like we should. We need to cut out that bureaucracy.”

Castor was joined on the floor by U.S. Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, which is expected to have hearings on State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) in about two weeks.

Castor also opposed Bush’s plan to send citizens to an accountant’s office, instead of a doctor’s office for more affordable health care.

“Tax deductions do not make sense for the vast majority of people, especially in the Tampa Bay area, where 20 percent of the people lack health insurance,” she said. “He says take a tax deduction. The problem is that so many people are just getting by. They do not pay income taxes. The tax deduction that President Bush wants you to get is not going to do anything for the hardworking families in my district.”