Michigan will receive approximately $203 million in new funds to cover children

WASHINGTON —U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is very pleased that the first action of the Senate Finance Committee is to pass the Children’s Health Insurance bill today. This bill was vetoed twice by President Bush, but President-elect Obama has expressed strong support. The program provides health insurance to children of working families who are not eligible for Medicaid, but are still unable to afford private health insurance. The legislation also includes a Stabenow provision to help implement electronic medical records for children and a provision to promote school-based health centers. In addition, this bill increases Medicaid funding to Michigan, which will help provide more coverage to low-income Michigan families. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill soon.

“We now have the chance to provide coverage for thousands of children, seniors and families across Michigan,” said Stabenow. “Something is wrong in this country when hard-working families don’t have access to the quality, affordable health care they deserve. This bill is a major step forward in our effort to make sure every child in America gets the health care they need.”

The $35 billion bipartisan agreement renews and expands the successful program. The agreement will maintain coverage for all 6.7 million children currently enrolled in the program. In addition, it will provide quality health coverage to an additional 3.9 million low-income, uninsured American children nationwide. In Michigan, this bill will provide the resources needed to help the successful MIChild and Healthy Kids programs enroll new children becoming eligible due to the economy as well as children who are eligible but not enrolled in the program. Under the agreement, Michigan will receive approximately $203 million next year in funds to cover more children without insurance.

The bill includes a section authored by Senator Stabenow to provide grants to demonstrate the effectiveness of electronic medical records for children. These technologies reduce medical costs by improving efficiency, quality of care and patient safety.

The legislation also contains a provision based on Senator Stabenow’s Healthy Schools Act that recognizes the importance of school-based health centers and authorizes states to reimburse them through Medicaid and CHIP. School-based health centers are a cost-effective way to help children receive important primary care services.

Finally, the bill also corrects a flaw in how Michigan’s Medicaid funding is calculated, meaning that the state will receive additional Medicaid dollars it was entitled to in order to cover low-income seniors, mothers and children.