WASHINGTON (AFP) — African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American members of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday sought equal protection for minorities under healthcare reform plans pending in Congress.
Of the 47 million uninsured people in the United States, Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Barbara Lee noted that more than half were from racial and ethnic minorities.
"The Congressional TriCaucus stands together and speaks with one voice to demand health care reform NOW, and to demand an end to the factors that perpetuate racial and ethnic health disparities in this country," she said in a statement.
The Congressional TriCaucus groups the Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses in the US Congress.
Under a proposed bill, TriCaucus members called for eliminating existing racial and ethnic disparities as part of healthcare reform legislation Congress is set to take up in the coming days.
Congressional committees have already begun working on the massive overhaul, a top priority of President Barack Obama's administration.
A draft bill was released Tuesday by Senate Health Committee chairman Edward Kennedy, a Democratic stalwart who has spent much of his career pushing for an overhaul of the healthcare system.
Fellow majority Democrats senators Christopher Dodd and Max Baucus have taken up the legislation due to Kennedy's absence from the Senate due to health concerns of his own.
The healthcare reform legislation seeks to expand medical insurance coverage to all Americans, by reducing healthcare costs and making health coverage affordable to the uninsured.
The plan, which allows those who have insurance to keep their coverage, also aims to reduce by half the huge federal deficit by the end of Obama's term in 2013.
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