Press Release of Senator Cantwell

Cantwell: Washington State Kids Poised to Win "Fair Share" of CHIP

Nearly $100 Million For Health Care Will Head to State From Senate Passage of Cantwell's CHIP Fix

Tuesday, January 27,2009

WASHINGTON, DC – This week, the U.S. Senate is poised to pass an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which includes a “fair share fix” secured by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to get more Washington state children access to quality affordable health care. Under Cantwell’s fix, which she got passed by the Senate twice in the last Congress only to have the president’s veto prevent it from taking effect, Washington state will receive and be able to use more federal money to provide health care for vulnerable low-income children.

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, 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 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 and so 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. For the first time since CHIP was created, Washington will have full access to its fair share of the program's funding and be able to help more Washington children.

“For years, the Bush Administration played politics with children’s healthcare,” said Cantwell. “Today, more people have lost their jobs than at any other time since World War II. As parents lose their jobs, unfortunately more children become eligible for CHIP, which makes getting Washington state its ‘fair share’ 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. We need to do better for our kids and for the health care system by getting more kids access to quality health care.”

In 2007, Cantwell fought repeatedly with her colleagues to extend this program, despite President Bush’s two vetoes of the CHIP bills. The updated bill is nearly identical to the 2007 bills (HR 976 and HR 3963) with modifications made to address new cost projections and budgetary issues. 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, and President-elect Obama has indicated he intends to sign the bill into law once he takes office.

"I want to thank Sen. Cantwell and other members of our congressional delegation for making this bill a priority,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “This bill will end the penalty that prevented Washington and other states from providing health insurance to as many children as possible. It is still my goal that all Washington children have access to high quality health care coverage. During these difficult economic times, this legislation is critical to achieving that. This legislation would allow the states to decide the best way to spend this money and the best route to expand our health care programs."

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: Washington State Kids Poised to Win "Fair Share" of CHIP Nearly $100 Million For Health Care Will Head to State From Senate Passage of Cantwell's CHIP Fix Tuesday, January 27,2009 WASHINGTON, DC – This week, the U.S. Senate is poised to pass an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which includes a “fair share fix” secured by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to get more Washington state children access to quality affordable health care. Under Cantwell’s fix, which she got passed by the Senate twice in the last Congress only to have the president’s veto prevent it from taking effect, Washington state will receive and be able to use more federal money to provide health care for vulnerable low-income children. 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, 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 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 and so 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. For the first time since CHIP was created, Washington will have full access to its fair share of the program's funding and be able to help more Washington children. “For years, the Bush Administration played politics with children’s healthcare,” said Cantwell. “Today, more people have lost their jobs than at any other time since World War II. As parents lose their jobs, unfortunately more children become eligible for CHIP, which makes getting Washington state its ‘fair share’ 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. We need to do better for our kids and for the health care system by getting more kids access to quality health care.” In 2007, Cantwell fought repeatedly with her colleagues to extend this program, despite President Bush’s two vetoes of the CHIP bills. The updated bill is nearly identical to the 2007 bills (HR 976 and HR 3963) with modifications made to address new cost projections and budgetary issues. 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, and President-elect Obama has indicated he intends to sign the bill into law once he takes office. "I want to thank Sen. Cantwell and other members of our congressional delegation for making this bill a priority,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “This bill will end the penalty that prevented Washington and other states from providing health insurance to as many children as possible. It is still my goal that all Washington children have access to high quality health care coverage. During these difficult economic times, this legislation is critical to achieving that. This legislation would allow the states to decide the best way to spend this money and the best route to expand our health care programs." 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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