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WASHINGTON, DC – As the deadline to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) quickly approaches, Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) today applauded the House of Representatives’ passage of H.R. 3162, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act) on a vote of 225 to 204. The CHAMP Act reauthorizes and enhances SCHIP. DeGette hailed the bill’s passage calling it a “win for America’s poor children and working families.”


“The real winners of the CHAMP Act today are America’s poor children,” said DeGette. “By reauthorizing and enhancing SCHIP, we will ensure health care coverage for nearly 12 million children nationwide, including almost 100,000 kids in Colorado. This bill will allow 5 million children, who are eligible for the program yet not currently enrolled, to receive access to preventative health care coverage they need.”

The Democratic Majority has made children’s health a priority in the 110th Congress. The CHAMP bill provides states with new tools for outreach and enrollment to find these children, and helps states that are particularly successful with enrollment by providing additional funding.  Finally, to ensure that children get the best start in life, the measure gives states the ability to provide health coverage to pregnant women. Some States have been able to insure as many as 60 percent of their children who previously had no health insurance.

“Under SCHIP, more children will have access to preventative health care, which is more cost-effective as preventative care is far less expensive than emergency care,” concluded DeGette. 
 
The current SCHIP program expires on September 30, 2007.  A Conference Committee will soon convene to reconcile the House and Senate versions of SCHIP reauthorization.