Press Release of Senator Cantwell

Cantwell Gets Washington State Nearly $100 Million Fix to Help Get Children the Care They Need

Children's Health Insurance Program Clears Senate Finance Committee With "Fair Share" Fix for Washington State

Friday, January 16,2009

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, during a Senate Finance Committee Hearing, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) successfully secured a “fair share fix” to help Washington state provide vulnerable children with the health care they need. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides health insurance to children living in families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but still unable to afford private health insurance. Under current law, Washington state receives $79.9 million in CHIP funding; under the fix that Cantwell secured in the Finance Committee’s package today, the state will receive a projected $94 million. For the first time since CHIP was created, Washington will have full access to its fair share of the program’s funding. CHIP’s rules have previously prevented Washington from using its allocation to cover the thousands of remaining uninsured low-income children who would have otherwise been eligible.

In 2007, Cantwell fought repeatedly with her colleagues to extend this program, despite President Bush’s two vetoes of the the CHIP bills. The updated bill, which the Finance Committee passed today by a vote of 12 to seven, is nearly identical to the 2007 bills (HR 976 and HR 3963) with modifications made to address new cost projections and budgetary issues.

“Given the recent economic downfall, this package is even more important today than it was last year,” said Cantwell. “More people have lost their jobs now than at any other time since World War II as parents lose their jobs, unfortunately more children become eligible for CHIP, which makes getting our state this ‘fair share fix’ more important than ever. It’s a real solution for Washington families in Seattle and Spokane; Yakima and Mount Vernon; families who simply don’t have the $11,500 it now costs to insure a family in America. In 2007, millions of families were let down by an administration who didn’t make health care a priority. We need to do better for our kids and for the health care system by getting more kids access to quality health care.”

The $31.5 billion legislation will preserve coverage for as many as 6.7 million children enrolled in the program, and will provide coverage to 3.9 million additional uninsured, low-income children in the U.S. Current authorization for CHIP expires on March 31, 2009. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill this month, and President-elect Obama has indicated he intends to sign the bill into law once he takes office.

Cantwell has worked for years to cover more uninsured children in the state by correcting a flaw in the original program that has prevented most of its federal CHIP dollars from being spent. Washington has been forced to hand back almost $200 million since the program’s creation in 1997—all of it money the state could have used to cover uninsured children. Both bills included a provision to fix this inequity and give the state more resources in improving children’s health care.

Included in this updated version of the 2007 bills are the following key elements:

Formulas for allotting federal funds to states are improved to more accurately reflect changes in projected spending for each state
Funding for outreach and enrollment efforts
Bonus payments to states for enrolling lowest-income children for health coverage
Contingency fund to protect states from shortfalls in unforeseen emergencies, and to provide bonus funding for enrollment of lowest-income children for health coverage
Maintains focus on those most in need by providing the Medicaid level of federal funding for children in families above 300 percent of federal poverty level, rather than the higher level of federal funding that is offered to children in lower income levels under CHIP
States can use information from food stamp programs and other initiatives for low-income families to find and enroll eligible children
Reduces barriers to help employers offer CHIP and Medicaid funded health coverage to the children of eligible employees
Options to cover pregnant women for prenatal care
Funds for existing coverage of low-income parents will transition to a lower federal matching rate
Childless adults will be moved out of CHIP
New waivers for additional adult coverage in CHIP will not be permitted

Specific changes from 2007 CHIP legislation include:

Funding of $31.5 billion, changed from $35 billion in 2007 to reflect budgetary changes
Reauthorization for a period of four and a half years (through September 2013) rather than five years as proposed in 2007. This will align CHIP reauthorization with the federal fiscal year
Targets the bonus system used to encourage states to enroll eligible individuals at Medicaid, where it is most effective, instead of at both Medicaid and CHIP
Slight revisions to the tobacco tax increases


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Maria's Monday Memo To sign up for Maria's weekly newsletter, enter your email address: Search The Site	News Press Release of Senator Cantwell Cantwell Gets Washington State Nearly $100 Million Fix to Help Get Children the Care They Need Children's Health Insurance Program Clears Senate Finance Committee With "Fair Share" Fix for Washington State Friday, January 16,2009 WASHINGTON, DC – Today, during a Senate Finance Committee Hearing, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) successfully secured a “fair share fix” to help Washington state provide vulnerable children with the health care they need. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides health insurance to children living in families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but still unable to afford private health insurance. Under current law, Washington state receives $79.9 million in CHIP funding; under the fix that Cantwell secured in the Finance Committee’s package today, the state will receive a projected $94 million. For the first time since CHIP was created, Washington will have full access to its fair share of the program’s funding. CHIP’s rules have previously prevented Washington from using its allocation to cover the thousands of remaining uninsured low-income children who would have otherwise been eligible. In 2007, Cantwell fought repeatedly with her colleagues to extend this program, despite President Bush’s two vetoes of the the CHIP bills. The updated bill, which the Finance Committee passed today by a vote of 12 to seven, is nearly identical to the 2007 bills (HR 976 and HR 3963) with modifications made to address new cost projections and budgetary issues. “Given the recent economic downfall, this package is even more important today than it was last year,” said Cantwell. “More people have lost their jobs now than at any other time since World War II as parents lose their jobs, unfortunately more children become eligible for CHIP, which makes getting our state this ‘fair share fix’ more important than ever. It’s a real solution for Washington families in Seattle and Spokane; Yakima and Mount Vernon; families who simply don’t have the $11,500 it now costs to insure a family in America. In 2007, millions of families were let down by an administration who didn’t make health care a priority. We need to do better for our kids and for the health care system by getting more kids access to quality health care.” The $31.5 billion legislation will preserve coverage for as many as 6.7 million children enrolled in the program, and will provide coverage to 3.9 million additional uninsured, low-income children in the U.S. Current authorization for CHIP expires on March 31, 2009. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill this month, and President-elect Obama has indicated he intends to sign the bill into law once he takes office. Cantwell has worked for years to cover more uninsured children in the state by correcting a flaw in the original program that has prevented most of its federal CHIP dollars from being spent. Washington has been forced to hand back almost $200 million since the program’s creation in 1997—all of it money the state could have used to cover uninsured children. Both bills included a provision to fix this inequity and give the state more resources in improving children’s health care. Included in this updated version of the 2007 bills are the following key elements: Formulas for allotting federal funds to states are improved to more accurately reflect changes in projected spending for each state Funding for outreach and enrollment efforts Bonus payments to states for enrolling lowest-income children for health coverage Contingency fund to protect states from shortfalls in unforeseen emergencies, and to provide bonus funding for enrollment of lowest-income children for health coverage Maintains focus on those most in need by providing the Medicaid level of federal funding for children in families above 300 percent of federal poverty level, rather than the higher level of federal funding that is offered to children in lower income levels under CHIP States can use information from food stamp programs and other initiatives for low-income families to find and enroll eligible children Reduces barriers to help employers offer CHIP and Medicaid funded health coverage to the children of eligible employees Options to cover pregnant women for prenatal care Funds for existing coverage of low-income parents will transition to a lower federal matching rate Childless adults will be moved out of CHIP New waivers for additional adult coverage in CHIP will not be permitted Specific changes from 2007 CHIP legislation include: Funding of $31.5 billion, changed from $35 billion in 2007 to reflect budgetary changes Reauthorization for a period of four and a half years (through September 2013) rather than five years as proposed in 2007. This will align CHIP reauthorization with the federal fiscal year Targets the bonus system used to encourage states to enroll eligible individuals at Medicaid, where it is most effective, instead of at both Medicaid and CHIP Slight revisions to the tobacco tax increases
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