Huckabee Campaign Responds to Iowa Democratic Party

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
 
Media Contacts:
Kirsten Fedewa
Tel: 202-365-6936
 
Alice Stewart
Tel: 501-324-2008 Office
501-658-1654 BB
 
 
NEWS RELEASE
 Huckabee Campaign Responds to Iowa Democratic Party 
 
Little Rock, AR – The Mike Huckabee presidential campaign issued the following
 statement in response to comments by the Iowa Democratic Party about Huckabee’s record as Governor of Arkansas:
 
           “Mike Huckabee has a proud record of dramatic innovations in health and health care during his tenure as Governor of Arkansas.  In fact, he’s been consistently honored as the national leader in health innovation, including recognitions by the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Association of Retired Persons,” said Iowa campaign spokesman Eric Woolson.
 
“Frankly, I find it ironic that the Iowa Democrat Party is lambasting Governor Huckabee’s record in Arkansas – especially given that this same record has, in fact, been lauded by Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack and Senator Tom Harkin, not to mention Bill Clinton,” said Woolson. 
 
Woolson pointed out that Huckabee’s health achievements led to his being named one of the country’s five best governors by Time magazine, Public Official of the Year by Governing magazine, and receiving the National Excellence in Public Health Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.  Last year the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation held a special event to praise Arkansas as the only state to have reversed childhood obesity rates, he said. 
 
“Given the Iowa Democratic Party’s irresponsible rhetoric on this issue, it’s critical that Iowans have a chance to look at the facts about Governor Huckabee’s impressive health care record in Arkansas,” said Woolson. 
 
n      Governor Mike Huckabee created the ARKids First program which today covers almost 200,000 children who previously were uninsured, and has cut the rate of uninsured children by more than half.
 
n      Governor Huckabee created ARHealth Net, an innovative program that provides basic benefits to small businesses that did not previously offer health insurance.  The program is a partnership among the federal and state governments, small businesses, and their employees. 
 
n                  Governor Huckabee led the effort that made Arkansas the first state in the country to require that the Body Mass Index of every school child be measured annually. 
 
n      He led the successful banning of vending machines from all elementary schools.  Access to vending machines in junior and senior high schools has been reduced, and half the choices in the machines must meet certain health criteria.
 
n      During Governor Huckabee’s tenure immunization rates improved dramatically.  First Lady Janet Huckabee led this effort and visited all 91 health offices in the state.  In 2003, the state was forced to provide a new “philosophical” exemption to its immunization law after a federal court declared the previous law unconstitutional.  According to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement’s 2006 Annual Report, this new exemption resulted in a “significant increase in the number of immunization exemptions requested, compared with the two previous years.”  The increase in exemptions resulted from parents’ exercising their freedom of choice as the federal court mandated and was beyond the control of the Governor.  He urged all parents to continue to immunize their children.
 
n      Governor Huckabee created the Healthy Arkansas initiative to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, eat healthier diets, and exercise more.  As chairman of the National Governors Association, he chose health as his personal initiative issue and expanded Healthy Arkansas into the Healthy America initiative.
 
n      He used radio addresses, speeches, news conferences, media interviews, and web sites to spread the Healthy Arkansas message.  He developed local plans in all 75 counties. 
 
n      Governor Huckabee made smoking cessation tools available to all Medicaid recipients at no cost.  He created an innovative program to get better disease management information to diabetics.
 
n      Governor Huckabee led efforts to improve the health of state employees and made these programs a model for the private sector to implement.  He eliminated co-pays and deductibles for state employees to have diagnostic procedures like mammograms, colonoscopies, and prostate cancer screening.  He expanded state health plans to include medically-supervised weight loss. He made smoking cessation tools available at no cost.  He offered state employees and their spouses a reduction in their health insurance premiums if they agreed not to smoke and took an online health assessment.  He provided exercise breaks during the work day.
 
n      He successfully led a 2000 ballot initiative that devotes all of Arkansas’ tobacco settlement funds to improving Arkansans’ health.  Arkansas is the only state that has used every single federal tobacco dollar for health programs and issues.
 
n      He successfully led the fight in 2006 for passage of the Arkansas Clean Air Act, guaranteeing people smoke-free environment at work.  Arkansas was the first state in the South to pass such a law.
 
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