Republican SCHIP Alternative Ensures Program Serves Low-Income Children First
GOP Proposal Will Fully Fund SCHIP Without Raising Taxes
Washington,
Jan 14 -
Republicans created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997 to provide health insurance for low-income children. From the outset, the program was focused on needy children, and it has enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress for more than a decade. On the House floor today, however, the Democratic Majority is forcing through legislation – written without Republican input, without legislative hearings, and without the opportunity for amendments – that would undermine the original intent of SCHIP. At the conclusion of today’s debate, House Republicans will offer an alternative, as a motion to recommit, to renew SCHIP for seven years, fully fund SCHIP without raising taxes, and keep the program focused on its initial mission: serving low-income children.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) recently wrote to President-elect Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), expressing Republicans’ desire to work together with the Democratic Majority on an SCHIP reauthorization reflecting core principles essential to the program since its creation in the late 1990s:
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“Democrats and Republicans, in the spirit of cooperation and working together, created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) a decade ago to give millions of low-income, American children access to high-quality health care. It is in that continuing spirit of bipartisan cooperation that, as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to consider SCHIP legislation as soon as next week, we hope to work together to renew and reauthorize this important program…”
“Republicans are committed to reauthorizing SCHIP in a manner that puts poor children first, which is the original intent of the program. We hope that in that same vein of bipartisan cooperation, you will take Republican principles into consideration as a helpful guide as the Democratic Majority brings legislation to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
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In spite of the leaders’ request, Democratic leaders continued their plans for an expansion of the program to cover adults, illegal immigrants, and families already covered by private health insurance. But Members on both sides of the aisle will have an opportunity to embrace the original mission of SCHIP by supporting the Republican motion to recommit. Specifically, the GOP alternative will:
- Cover low-income children first. Republicans believe that SCHIP legislation should ensure that states are enrolling low-income children below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, especially those who are currently eligible for Medicaid and/or SCHIP, but are not yet enrolled.
- Serve only U.S. citizens and certain legal residents. Republicans believe SCHIP legislation must include stronger protections to prevent fraud by including citizenship verification standards to ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens and certain legal residents are enrolled in the program.
- Not replace private health insurance or force children with private health care to move into a government run program. Republicans want to work with Democrats to cover all eligible low-income children, rather than removing families from private insurance plans and placing them on the government rolls.
- Provide SCHIP with stable funding, without using budget gimmicks that put the program in jeopardy. Republicans do not believe SCHIP legislation should be used as an opportunity to raise taxes, especially on the poorest Americans during an economic crisis, to pay for expanding the program.
The Republican alternative will maintain the program’s core function: ensuring low-income children – not adults, illegal immigrants, and families with private health coverage – have the best care possible. Will Democrats join Republicans in supporting the mission of SCHIP and, indeed, the children it is meant to serve?
