“This evening the House held a vote to improve the Democrat bill to make a true full fix in SCHIP for Washington State, remove the section that would force closure of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, and stop Medicare cuts that put over 150,000 Washington seniors at risk of losing their Medicare Advantage health coverage.

I voted to make these changes for Washington State. I regret not all of my colleagues joined in doing so and that these changes failed.

With these three big strikes against Washington State in the final bill, I was compelled to vote against it. I voted to create SCHIP in 1997 and support its renewal now, but this bill is simply unsupportable and a threat to Washington state.”

Background:

Since 1998, the Washington delegation has worked hand-in-hand to address the unfair manner that our state is treated under current SCHIP law. Right now, Washington can only spend a fraction of its allotment of federal funding and is blocked from spending it on the low-income children that SCHIP was created to help. Our fair share of funding has been taken away and given to California, New Jersey and other states.

Democrat leadership refused to allow a Hastings amendment to ensure the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center can continue caring for patients from even being considered on the House floor. The one vote to change the bill that Democrat leadership did allow on the House floor, known as a “motion to recommit”, included three changes that would help Washington state. Regrettably, it failed to pass.

First, the change in law needed to fully fix SCHIP for Washington State was included. The measure would have amended the House bill to provide a full fix to SCHIP to ensure Washington state is finally treated fairly and can spend its full funding allotment and use it to provide health care to low-income children beginning at 133% of poverty like most other states are currently allowed. This change would have matched the full fix secured in the Senate Finance Committee bill. The House Democrat bill didn’t make the full fix (Click here for more information and Congressman Hastings’ floor speech).

Second, the motion would have removed the section in the Democrat bill that threatens to close down the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and its satellite facilities that treat 150,000 Washington residents a year.

And third, the motion would have ended the threat to over 150,000 seniors in Washington State at risk of losing their Medicare Advantage health coverage under the Democrat bill.