October 25, 2007
Contact: Robin Winchell (202)
225-4031
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) today voted for the new, bipartisan compromise bill to
reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). H.R.
3963, which passed the House with a strong bipartisan vote of 265 to 142, is a
revised version of H.R. 976, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Reauthorization Act. Like the original version, this bill continues to
provide health care coverage for 10 million American children from lower income
working families without health insurance.
However, the revised bill contains
provisions clarifying that the SCHIP bill: 1) limits coverage to low-to-middle
income children, and targets poor children first; 2) does NOT cover illegal
immigrants; 3) phases out adults from the program; and 4) works to prevent
children from moving from employer-sponsored private insurance to SCHIP.
"Uninsured children from
working families in Louisiana
desperately need this bill to be signed into law," said Rep. Melancon. "Yesterday, Louisiana's
Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals' said that if Congress does
not pass this bill, the state will have to drop health insurance coverage for
36,000 Louisiana children over the next year. These children are from
hardworking families that make a little too much to qualify for Medicaid, but
not enough to purchase expensive private health insurance. These 36,000
children are our state's future, and we can not turn our backs on them."
"Let us be clear: this bill
does NOT provide coverage for illegal immigrants. It does NOT provide
coverage for children from high-income families. It does NOT create
government-run health care. In fact, states cover most children in S-CHIP
by enrolling them in private health insurance plans."
"What this bill DOES do, is
provide health care coverage for almost 200,000 uninsured children in Louisiana. I will
continue working in Congress to pass this S-CHIP legislation, so that more Louisiana children - not
fewer - have the insurance coverage they need to grow up healthy and strong."
The bill passed by the House today
includes the following provisions to address the concerns of some of the bill's
opponents:
Provides Incentives To States
To Find And Enroll The Lowest-Income Uninsured Children First.
• Permits
states to only receive federal funding for children covered in CHIP with family
incomes of up to 300% of the federal poverty level.
• As an
incentive for prioritizing low-income children, states would be eligible for
bonus payments only for the purpose of covering additional children on
Medicaid, who are among the poorest in a state.
Further minimizes the
substitution of employer-sponsored coverage with CHIP coverage.
•Requires
all states to submit plans and implement recommended best practices for helping
kids already covered stay in employer-sponsored coverage.
•Encourages
states to use CHIP dollars to subsidize employer-sponsored health insurance for
children as an option.
Targets CHIP for children.
•Phases
out coverage of childless adults after one year.
Clarifies and Strengthens CHIP
as a Program for U.S.
Citizens.
• The
measure bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in the program by mandating that
when a state sends an applicant's name and Social Security number to the Social
Security Administration (SSA), SSA would be required to verify that the
applicant is a citizen. If SSA is unable to verify citizenship, the individual
would be required to submit additional documentation to confirm eligibility.
•Clarifies
that states will NOT receive Federal funding for payments made to non-citizens.
Created in 1997, the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides funding to states to
provide healthcare coverage for children in working families who currently lack
health insurance, often because their parents cannot afford costly private
insurance and their employers do not provide it for them.
Louisiana has one of the most successful SCHIP programs in the
nation. In 1999, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance, the
percentage of low income, uninsured children in our state was 31.6 percent -
the fourth worst in the country. Today, as a result of the program, that
percentage has dropped to 12.5 percent - one of the nation's 10 best.
Like the CHIP bill that was vetoed
by the President, the new compromise bill would reauthorize SCHIP for the six
million children currently enrolled in the program and provides funding to
cover an additional four million uninsured children who are eligible for but
not currently enrolled in SCHIP.
Children in Louisiana would especially benefit from the
CHIP Reauthorization Act. The bill would provide Louisiana
with an additional $60 million, for a total of $144.1 million, to continue
health insurance coverage for the 109,500 children currently enrolled in Louisiana's SCHIP
program and to reach the 82,800 children from low income families with no
health insurance who are not currently enrolled in SCHIP.
The bipartisan CHIP
Reauthorization Act is supported by 43 governors and has been endorsed by more
than 270 organizations, representing millions of Americans - ranging from
groups such as the American Medical Association and America's Health Insurance Plans to
Families USA, the consumer advocacy group.
A fact sheet on the bill is below.
# # #
BIPARTISAN CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE
PROGRAM (CHIP) REAUTHORIZATION
· Ensures
health care coverage for 10 million American children. The bill
renews and improves the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP),
reauthorizing it for five years. The bill ensures that 6 million children
who currently participate in the Children's Health Insurance program continue
to receive health care coverage. It also extends coverage to nearly 4
million uninsured children, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office.
· Invests
$35 billion in new funding. The bill invests an additional $35
billion over five years in SCHIP in order to strengthen SCHIP's financing;
increase health care coverage for low-income, uninsured children; and improve
the quality of health care children receive. As Republican Senator Grassley
has pointed out, "As far as the size of the package, it's important to
understand that about half of the new money is needed just to keep the program
running, and the rest goes to cover more low-income kids."
· Does
not "expand" the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); simply
provides for enrolling children who are currently eligible but not yet
enrolled. This bill does nothing to "expand" the SCHIP program; it
maintains current law regarding children's eligibility for SCHIP. Two-thirds
of uninsured children are currently eligible for coverage through SCHIP or
Medicaid - but better outreach and adequate funding are needed to identify and
enroll them. This bill gives states the resources and incentives
necessary to reach millions of uninsured children who are eligible for, but not
enrolled in, the program.
· Improves
SCHIP benefits -- ensuring dental coverage and mental health parity. Under
the bill, quality dental coverage will now be provided to all children enrolled
in SCHIP. The bill also ensures that states will offer mental health
services on par with medical and surgical benefits covered under
SCHIP.
· Improves
outreach tools to streamline enrollment of eligible children. The
bill provides $100 million in grants for new outreach activities to states,
local governments, schools, community-based organizations, safety-net providers
and others.
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