NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Dingell, Pallone Challenge Accuracy of
New HHS Report on SCHIP
HHS Estimates Would Deny Health
Coverage to Millions of Eligible Children

Washington, D.C. – Committee leaders responded today to a new report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that ignores widely accepted data indicating that six million uninsured children are eligible to participate in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) or Medicaid. The HHS report asserts that there are approximately one million eligible but uninsured children nationwide, an estimate six times lower than what the leading research indicates.

“Today’s report is yet another instance of this Administration trying to create their own reality to justify inaction or bad action,” said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which will soon take up a bill to reauthorize the S-CHIP program. “Instead of wasting time skewing facts, I wish HHS would start working with Congress to protect the health of our kids.”

SCHIP currently provides health insurance for six million lower and moderate-income children and must be reauthorized by September 30, 2007. The prevailing estimates from leading researchers find that 1.7 to 2 million uninsured children, not 800,000, as the HHS report indicates, are currently eligible for SCHIP.

“This report is nothing more than an attempt by the Bush administration to justify its woefully inadequate SCHIP budget request,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, in reference to the Administration’s FY ’08 budget proposal, which would severely underfund SCHIP and cause 3 million children to lose coverage. “It's clear President Bush has no interest in insuring more of our nation's children. However, rather than be honest about this indifference, he chose to have his administration produce a report that contradicts reliable studies on the number of uninsured children.”

- 30 -