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McCONNELL OFFERS KIDS FIRST ACT; REPUBLICAN ALTERNATIVE PUTS CHILDREN, LOW-INCOME FIRST
from the Office of Senator Mitch McConnell
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
‘It’s grossly unfair that a family in Kentucky making $40,000 must pay for the health insurance of a family making double that — especially if the Kentuckian can’t afford it for his own family’
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP):
“I support the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. I voted to create the program and believe we need to responsibly reauthorize it.
“In its original form, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was meant to provide insurance to children from families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.
“There is no doubt that we all support providing insurance to low-income children.
“In fact, this program originally passed on a broad bipartisan basis, with 43 Republicans and 42 Democrats supporting it.
“Enacted by a Republican Congress and signed by a Democratic President, this was a model of bipartisanship.
“Two of my colleagues, Senators Grassley and Hatch, reached across the aisle to craft a bipartisan compromise in the last Congress.
“Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues have gone back on many of the prior agreements that were reached in creating that bill, making this issue more contentious than it ought to be and setting a very troubling precedent for future discussions on health care reform.
“The original purpose of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was to serve low-income, uninsured, children.
“The bill we’re being asked to consider sanctions a loophole that allows a few select states like New York to provide insurance to children in families earning more than $80,000 – instead of insuring low-income children first.
“This is more than double the median household income in many states, including Kentucky. It’s grossly unfair that a family in Kentucky making $40,000 must pay for the health insurance of a family making double that — especially if the Kentuckian can’t afford it for his own family.
“The bill before the Senate isn’t limited to children either. It preserves loopholes that allow adults to enroll in a program that is intended for children.
“Earlier estimates of similar legislation found that nearly half of the new children added by this bill already have private health insurance.
“Republicans, on the other hand, believe that we ought to target scarce resources to uninsured children, not those who already have coverage.
“Republicans will offer amendments to fix the shortcomings in the bill and to provide a responsible alternative that will return SCHIP to its intended purpose – serving the kids in struggling families who need the help the most.
“Our bill, the Kids First Act, will provide funding increases to state SCHIP programs and help them to find those eligible children who are not yet enrolled.
“And our Kids First idea is better because it closes the loophole that allows some states to extend their program to higher income families, even while they have thousands of lower-income children who are still not covered.
“The Kids First Act truly puts kids first, eliminating nearly all adults from this program designed for children so that more children can be covered.
“Finally, by responsibly allocating scarce resources, our bill increases funding for SCHIP without raising new taxes. We believe Republicans have a better alternative, which I now send to the desk.”
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