Pierluisi convoca al gobernador y al liderato legislativo a unir esfuerzos para la aprobación de medidas para un mejor trato en programas federales de salud y la creación de empleos.

El comisionado residente, Pedro Pierluisi, dijo que los cambios al modelo de salud deben hacerse a través de un proyecto piloto, mientras convocó al gobernador, Alejandro García Padilla, y al liderato legislativo a unir esfuerzos para la aprobación de medidas para un mejor trato en programas federales de salud y la creación de empleos.

“Si cambian el modelo tiene que ser un piloto por región y comparar costos porque ciertamente los economistas advierten que si cambian el modelo podría costar $800 millones y de dónde va a salir el dinero”, indicó Pierluisi.

Según el comisionado residente, el gobierno no debe regresar al modelo anterior donde ofrecía los servicios directamente.

“Si van a poner al gobierno a actuar como una aseguradora lo primero es que no tiene la experiencia en eso y si alguien tiene que asumir riesgo de costos son las compañías de seguro. Pero tienes que reglamentarlas efectivamente para estar seguro de que le paguen a los proveedores médicos”, dijo Pierluisi.

De otra parte, convocó a García Padilla a presentar un frente unido en Washington para atender los temas de salud y apoyar la propuesta de la nueva Sección 933A del Código de Rentas Internas federal que promueve la inversión en Puerto Rico.

“A pesar de que personalmente he traído el asunto a la atención de los principales asesores del presidente Obama y del liderato demócrata en el Congreso, es importante que levantemos al voz de alarma en cuanto al impacto de los posibles recortes”, expresó Pierluisi en la misiva enviada a García Padilla.

Respecto a la Sección 933A destacó es beneficiosa para la Isla y Estados Unidos ya que genera mayor actividad económica en Puerto Rico y le provee mayor capital a Estados Unidos.

Comunicado de Prensa

Estadistas abren nuevo frente de apoyo en la capital federal

(Igualdad da la bienvenida a iniciativa conservadora,

enfocada en solucionar el problema del estatus)

Washington – El Dr. Hernán Padilla, presidente de Igualdad, organización no partidista que promueve la estadidad para Puerto Rico, dio la bienvenida hoy a los nuevos aliados de la causa estadista en Washington, el Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles y al renombrado activista conservador, Grover Norquist.

Padilla y el ex Gobernador de Puerto Rico, Luis G. Fortuño, acompañaron a Norquist y a Alfonso Aguilar, director del Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, en una conferencia de prensa en el National Press Club donde anunciaron el lanzamiento de un nuevo frente de apoyo en la lucha por la estadidad de Puerto Rico.

“Nos unimos al Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles y al amigo Grover Norquist, en este llamado a la Casa Blanca y al Congreso, para que actúen a resolver el problema del estatus político de Puerto Rico”, expresó Padilla, quien reiteró su exhortación al presidente Barack Obama, para que incluya el tema de Puerto Rico en su próximo Mensaje de Estado al Congreso, programado para el 12 de febrero.

“La acción que ahora procede a nivel federal, para resolver el problema del estatus político de Puerto Rico, debe ser consistente con los resultados claros del plebiscito del 6 de noviembre de 2012”, manifestó Padilla.  “Ha llegado el momento para ponerle fin a un estatus territorial que ha perdido el apoyo de la mayoría del electorado puertorriqueño, y que impide el ejercicio de todos sus derechos y responsabilidades como ciudadanos americanos”, agregó el ex alcalde de San Juan.

“Nuestra meta última no puede ser otra que lograr la plena igualdad, bajo la Constitución, de todo ciudadano americano”, puntualizó el también ex presidente de la Conferencia de Alcaldes de los Estados Unidos. “La segregación y subyugación política de una comunidad de 3.7 millones de ciudadanos americanos, basada en jurisprudencia anacrónica que se remonta a principios del siglo 20, ya no puede sostenerse”, subrayó. “La nación americana se rige por una sola Constitución, con una sola ciudadanía, que debe aplicarse en justicia e igualdad a todos sus ciudadanos”, concluyó.

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Anejo

2.0

Hernán Padilla, MD#

President of Igualdad

Introduction

Words related to Latino Partnership

Introduction

Igualdad: An advocacy group for citizen equality through Statehood

Igualdad (Equality), a non-partisan grass-roots citizen advocacy organization, has a simple and compelling objective: achieving full equality in citizenship under the Constitution for the American citizens of Puerto Rico through the admission of the Island as a State of the Union.

We believe that our Nation has one Constitution and one citizenship for all Americans and, therefore, that the American citizens of Puerto Rico should have the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as the American citizens who reside in the 50 States.

The Island’s current status as an unincorporated territory of the United States deprives American citizens residing in Puerto Rico of fundamental rights such as the equal protection of the laws, participation in the election of the President, and proportional representation in Congress.

Ironically, thousands of Puerto Ricans have served in the Armed Forces protecting our freedoms at home and defending our democratic ideals abroad —many at the cost of their lives.

Historical Background

Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish American War. And in 1917 Congress granted American citizenship to the inhabitants of Puerto Rico.

Prior to the Spanish American War it was expected that American territories would eventually be admitted into the Union. However, in a series of decisions known as the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court created two classes of territories: incorporated, which were intended to become States, and unincorporated, such as Puerto Rico, which according to the case law could be ruled by Congress indefinitely.

However, the Constitution does not provide for such differentiation. The unprecedented category of “unincorporated territory” was created by a segregationist Court to prevent a territory inhabited by people of Hispanic origin from becoming a part of the United States.

Moreover, when in 1917 Congress granted American citizenship to Puerto Ricans it was generally understood that the Islands had been incorporated into the United States. But in 1922 a U.S. Supreme Court that upheld racial segregation determined that Puerto Rico was still an unincorporated territory because its Justices could not conceive of a faraway island inhabited by Hispanics, rather than Anglo-Saxons, to be a part of this Nation.

As such, American Citizens who reside in Puerto Rico are subjected to geographic discrimination, segregationist policies and a deficit of democratic rights. The U.S. Constitution does not protect the U.S. Citizens who reside in Puerto Rico in the same manner it protects other U.S. Citizens. (SCOTUS 1921-22)

Even though, in 1952 President Truman signed USC§1402, changing the Statutory American Citizenship that had been granted to all persons born in Puerto Rico in 1917 to Natural Born American Citizens for all persons born on the island from January 1941 onward, today the residents in Puerto Rico continue to be subject to a political system that denies them full equality as U.S. Citizens and participation in their national government.

Results of the Recent Puerto Rico Status Plebiscite

On November 6th, 2012, the U.S. Citizens residing in Puerto Rico voted in a two-part plebiscite on whether they wanted the Island to remain a territory, and on their preference among the three full self-government or non-territorial status alternatives.

With the participation of 77.6% of all registered voters, the residents of Puerto Rico rejected the continuation of the current territorial status, often called “commonwealth,” with an absolute majority of 54%. With this vote the American citizens of Puerto Rico removed any possible consent that may have existed to continue being governed under a political status that is both undemocratic and discriminatory.

Moreover, the plebiscite results yielded an overwhelming preference for statehood which garnered 61% of the votes over the options of independence in free association with the U.S. and full independence.

Request

We  join the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles in its call for The White House and Congress to take action to resolve Puerto Rico’s political status problem in a manner consistent with the results of the plebiscite held last November.

I repeat, our ultimate goal is to achieve full equality in citizenship under the Constitution for the American citizens of Puerto Rico through the admission of the Island as a State of the Union.

As I said, the United States is one Nation with one Constitution and only one citizenship for all Americans. Therefore, the continued political segregation of a community of 3.7 million American citizens of Hispanic origin is a national problem that deserves prompt attention and expedient action.

Every year the President speaks before a joint session of Congress recommending measures to deal with the issues that he believes are important. We would hope that the President includes Puerto Rico’s political status problem in his State of the Union address on February 12th.