> Subject: [ProTex_PILF] CALL TO ACTION! > > <<...OLE_Obj...>> > <<...OLE_Obj...>> > > * Are you appalled by the recent budget cut proposals to Health and > Human Services? > * Now is the time to raise your voice in opposition to the cuts! > * Demand health care justice in Texas! > > Come rally at the Capitol on TUESDAY, March 11th from 12:15-1:00PM > > RALLY TALKING POINTS > (See reverse side for fact sheet) > * The Real Texas Deficit: Failure to meet health care needs > * Cuts are not the Cure > * Texas Needs a Prescription for New Revenue > RALLY SPEAKERS > * DeAnn Friedholm-Children’s Defense Fund > * Louis Malfaro-Texas AFL-CIO > * Nick Mannix- uninsured Texan > * Senator Elliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) > > > Leave No Texan Behind > Health Care is a Basic Human Right Rally > Tuesday, March 11, 2003 > 12:15-1:00-Capitol South Steps > > FACT SHEET > > The Real Texas Deficit: Failure to meet health care needs > * Current Texas programs fail to help uninsured Texans with low > incomes that cannot possibly afford high insurance rates. Almost 60% of > uninsured Texans’ incomes are less than 200% of poverty and more than > one-fourth have incomes below the poverty line. > * Texas ranks poorly among the other states: > * 1st in percentage of uninsured people > * 35th in spending for Medicaid child coverage > * 39th in state and local government health care spending per capita > * 36th in state health ranking (including such things as health > status, health habits, health outcomes) > > Cuts are Not the Cure > * State agencies have laid out the devastating cuts that would be > required in budgets with no new revenues. These cuts will have the worst > impact on Texans who need help the most: people with disabilities living > in our communities, frail elders, and our poorest children. > * Cutting state programs that draw down matching federal funds - > Medicaid and CHIP - will exacerbate our funding shortfall. For every > Texas dollar spent, these programs bring in an additional $1.50 to $2.57 > in federal funds. > * Everyone in the state will feel the pain if these programs are cut - > we will pay more local taxes, we will be subject to more infectious > diseases, and our fellow citizens will experience more severe illnesses > that will prevent them from being productive taxpayers. > > Texas Needs a Prescription for New Revenue > * Texas’ tax structure fails to meet the needs of the 21st century > Texas economy > * Texas relies too heavily on sales taxes which falls too heavily on > the shoulders of low and middle-income working families and produces an > inadequate level of revenue > * Texas’ tax system is not fair and here are a few reasons: our sales > tax fails to cover most business and professional services; many > businesses can avoid paying required taxes by failing to fully report the > value of their property; many businesses avoid paying corporate franchise > taxes by organizing under certain legal structures. > > > > > > > ------- Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org To unsubscribe: use subject "unsubscribe" sent to amc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx