WASHINGTON, DC— Today, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) released the first video in a series of four aimed at engaging the public on the issue of children’s health coverage and urging Congress to enact comprehensive reform to provide quality, affordable health coverage to all people, especially children—this year. Each video will highlight one of the principles CDF is urging lawmakers to include in reform legislation being drafted this month. 

To view the first video, "Accidents Happen," visit www.childrensdefense.org/accidents.

"Accidents happen and sometimes kids get sick.  But when a family is handed a $50,000 medical bill because they couldn't afford health insurance? This can be avoided," says Karim in the video. "America, we can do better.  Now is the time for Congress and the President to bring about real health reform.  Contact your elected officials and tell them to cover every child in 2009 and provide quality, affordable health coverage for every family in America."

Even with the recent expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), 5-6 million children will still be uninsured and millions more underinsured. The videos are being released at a time when Congress is drafting health care reform legislation and has the ability to ensure all children have access to quality, affordable health care in 2009.  The videos star eight-year-old Karim and feature his classmates from the Urban Promise School in Camden, NJ.

CDF is also running a series of print ads over the next few months urging Congress to ensure the children's part of the national reform legislation includes three critical principles:

• Coverage Must Be Affordable. Establish a national eligibility floor of at least 300 percent of the federal poverty level for all children and pregnant women, with an affordable buy-in based on a family's income for those over that income level.
• Benefits Must Be Comprehensive. Guarantee every child access to all medically necessary services to maximize a child's health and development.
• The System Must Be Simple and Seamless. To ensure children get enrolled and stay enrolled, simplify the application and enrollment process to make it easy for all children to get covered and stay covered. This must include eliminating known barriers to enrollment and instituting automatic enrollment of eligible children.

To download or view the ads, visit www.childrensdefense.org/congressdaily.