Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3) praised the State Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization bill (H.R. 2), which would reauthorize the popular program for the next four and a half years, through 2013. The bipartisan bill would provide health coverage for 11 million children – preserving coverage for the 7 million children currently covered by the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and extending coverage to 4 million uninsured children who are currently eligible for, but not enrolled in, SCHIP and Medicaid. In 2008, over 23,600 children in Connecticut were enrolled in the program.

“In this transformational moment, we stand poised to reauthorize this popular, bipartisan program, which now provides critical health care coverage to more than 6 million children who would otherwise go without care – including aproximately 14 thousand in my home state of Connecticut,” said DeLauro. “With an economy shedding jobs like never before, we have an economic and moral responsibility to cover the most vulnerable among us. In this country, where 9 million children are uninsured, we cannot let another day go by without passing this legislation.”

“After my husband was laid off in February, we looked into COBRA and found that it would take over 70 percent of his unemployment benefits to cover the premium. What it came down to was a choice between paying our mortgage, or have health insurance. We went with the former. After 4 months of no insurance for the kids, I looked into HUSKY and we qualified! Since then, my 2 year old had a very serious breathing condition. Because of HUSKY, I went to the doctor and we caught it early. He is now on the daily medication he needs. I can't even begin to think what would have happened otherwise. HUSKY was literally a lifesaver. Thank You, HUSKY,” said Stratford resident, Tami-Lyn Morse.

Tami-Lyn’s situation is not unique. According to a recent Families USA study, newly unemployed Connecticut resident would have to spend more than 80 percent of their jobless benefits to maintain health insurance coverage. SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance, and has proved a successful and cost-effective program for providing health care. Polls have shown that more than 80 percent of the American people support this bipartisan legislation.

Continued DeLauro, “This is a smart investment in our children – in their health and in their success at school and in life. Dental and mental health care for children and in coverage for pregnant women. More efficient administration, higher-quality care for children, and reducing childhood obesity. Meeting our commitment to fiscal responsibility.

“The choice before us today is a simple one. It is about fulfilling America’s promise as a place of hope, possibility, and opportunity for our nation’s children.”

In addition to ensuring health coverage for 11 million American children by reauthorizing SCHIP for the next four and a half years, through 2013, the bill would:

Improves care and strengthens funding. The bill invests billions in new funding 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.

Provides resources for states to reach uninsured children who are today eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid but not yet enrolled. 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 and cover millions of uninsured children who are eligible for, but not enrolled in, SCHIP and Medicaid.

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.

Improves the quality of care for low-income children. The bill establishes a new initiative to develop and implement pediatric health quality measures, improve state reporting of quality data, and address childhood obesity.

Is fully paid-for – with an increase in the tobacco tax and a provision regarding self-referral to physician-owned hospitals.

First, the bill raises the tobacco tax by 61 cents a pack. Raising the tobacco tax discourages children from smoking – and polls show the public supports it as a way to pay for health care. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a 61-cent increase in the tobacco tax means that 1,873,000 fewer children will take up smoking.

Secondly, the bill closes a loophole in Medicare that allows physicians to profit from referring their patients to hospitals in which they have an ownership interest. Many analysts believe that self-referral to physician-owned hospitals increases unnecessary utilization and encourages the skimming of healthier, less complex, and insured patients by these facilities for higher profit margins. Consequently, this leaves full-service community hospitals with sicker, more complex (and less profitable) patients, which is a further drain on the safety net.