Sen. Salazar Makes Remarks on Bolstering
Children’s Health Insurance Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a
floor speech today, United States Senator Ken Salazar discussed the
importance of bolstering the Children’s Health Insurance Program that
is being debated in the Senate this week. With over 180,000 uninsured
children living in Colorado, Senator Salazar supports expanding the
children’s health insurance program. Under this legislation Colorado
would receive $127 million for the program in 2008, providing $56 million
more to Colorado than last year. This increased funding would cover
most of the 70,000 children eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) in Colorado.
Below are excerpts of his
remarks as prepared for delivery:
“I rise today to
support our effort to address a national health care imperative: providing
health insurance to 10 million uninsured children. By all measures,
our health care system is in crisis. 47 million Americans lack health
care insurance - nine million of them are kids. In Colorado, 20% of
our population – 780,000 people – lack coverage. 180,000 of them are
children…
“These are middle
class citizens who are getting squeezed by the ballooning costs of health
care. Two-thirds of Americans and 70% of Coloradans without health insurance
work full-time. They play by the rules, but still find coverage out
of reach. The reason we focus our first reforms of the health care system
on our children is simple: every American child deserves the opportunities
that come from a healthy start in life…
“The fact that 9
million of our kids – 180,000 in Colorado – have no coverage is simply
unacceptable. It is a massive liability not just for the health of our
kids, but for their education and for our future economic security.
The impacts of a lack of health coverage are clear: Uninsured children
are 6 times more likely to have unmet medical needs; Uninsured children
are two and a half times more likely to have unmet dental needs; One-third
of all uninsured children go without any medical care for an entire
year; Uninsured children are less likely to do well in school due to
absences from unmet health needs; and Uninsured children are more likely
to seek care from hospital emergency rooms, which are often the provider
of last resort, the most costly venue for care, and the least equipped
to provide the type of preventive and comprehensive follow-up care children
need…
“I am proud of the
work that we have done on this bill in the Finance Committee. It will
cover 10 million uninsured children. It is a huge step toward providing
coverage for every uninsured child in America, and we have done it with
overwhelming bipartisan support in Committee. Unfortunately, the President
seems to have a different perspective. He has already issued a veto
threat. And, I believe he is wrong. For the sake of our children we
must reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance program, and we ask
the President to help get it done. CHIP has become a critical resource
to us in Colorado and nationwide, providing health care coverage to
children who would otherwise go uninsured…
“I believe that
it is our moral and economic obligation in Washington to invest in our
children’s healthcare, as our investment today, will pay off tomorrow.
The President should embrace this proposal for children across the country,
and I strongly urge the President to help us get it done…
“I am offering an
amendment that is straightforward. It would create a $100M grant program
to fund cost-effective home visitation programs. It would also require
a study of the cost-effectiveness of adding home visitation programs
to coverage under CHIP…
“From my experience
with these programs in Colorado, I think we will find that expanded
investment in home visitation programs is a logical step toward improving
children’s health care. Nurse Family Partnership, one of our home visitation
programs in Colorado, is a great example. It operates in 150 sites in
22 states, providing 20,000 low-income pregnant women with help from
trained registered nurses. These nurses work closely with the families
to increase access to prenatal care, foster child health and development
and promote parental economic self-sufficiency…
“The statistics
prove the success of the program. Nurse Family Partnership has been
shown to: reduce child abuse and neglect by 48%; reduce child arrests
by 59%; reduce arrests of the mother by 61%; reduce criminal convictions
for the mother by 72%; increase father presence in household by 42%;
reduce subsequent pregnancies by 32%; reduce language delays in 21-month-old
children by 50%; reduce behavioral/intellectual problems of children
at age 6 by 67%. A report recently released by the Brookings Institute
praised Nurse Family Partnership as one of the most effective returns
on investment in the healthy development of the next generation. My
amendment builds on the great promise that home visitation programs
offer and strengthens CHIP’s investment in the healthy development of
our children. I urge my colleagues to support our amendment when we
offer it.”
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