Valley children's organization to hold rally for health care reform

McALLEN — The Children’s Defense Fund plans to have a “stroller brigade” Saturday morning to rally for children’s health care reform as officials in Washington, D.C., continue work on comprehensive health care reform legislation.

The rally will be 9-10:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Fantasyland Skate Center, 801 W. Dove Ave., McAllen. CDF will provide T-shirts, posters and markers, rally signs, balloons and refreshments and urges all who come to bring strollers.

The organization — which has offices in Austin, Houston and McAllen — is calling for the health care reform bill to provide a full range of preventive and treatment services for all children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. That’s in contrast to the current system, which in the majority of states provides more comprehensive benefits to children on Medicaid than to children on CHIP.

The CDF is also calling on the U.S. Congress to remove the bureaucratic barriers that keep children from accessing health insurance coverage and to implement a more streamlined enrollment process.

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Nick Pipitone covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.