Finance Committee bill would dismantle successful program that insures over 14 million kids
WASHINGTON, DC-U.S. U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Roland Burris (D-IL) today sent a letter urging the Senate Finance Committee to preserve the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The current version of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill would dismantle the successful program. The senators urged adoption of an amendment to the Finance bill that would continue CHIP.
“CHIP is not broken,” the senators wrote. “We should not be moving 14.1 million children from a successful program, rather we should, as the President has said, ‘build upon what works.’”
The letter continued: “Senator Jay Rockefeller has filed an amendment to the Chairman’s mark which addresses this issue squarely and recommends a streamlining and strengthening of the CHIP program which may even lower the cost of the bill, since per capita CHIP costs should be lower than the proposal in the mark. We urge you to accept this amendment.”
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley:
As we enter this critical phase of health care reform and you begin markup of the Finance bill, we write with urgency about a change to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that is made in the Chairman’s mark.
As you both know, CHIP was created on a bipartisan basis in 1997 and has served our nation’s children extremely well during the past 12 years. Through this exemplary model of public-private partnership, children from low income and working families have benefitted from comprehensive and preventive health care such as well baby visits, immunizations, prescription drugs, medical equipment, rehabilitation therapies, and home health care. CHIP is offered in most states through a competitive bidding process by private providers with a well established network of care. As was stated numerous times during our recent reauthorization of CHIP, signed into law in February of this year, this program is a resounding example of success.
There are many things that are broken and need to be fixed in our health care system – and we are addressing those issues with the Senate HELP and Finance bills and the House bill. But CHIP is not broken. With our most recent reauthorization, it is estimated that 14.1 million children will be covered under CHIP by 2013. That is approaching universal coverage. Yet the Chairman’s mark proposes to dismantle this successful program, replaced by a combination of subsidized private coverage and public wrap-around benefits.
We should not be moving 14.1 million children from a successful program, rather we should, as the President has said, “build upon what works.” Senator Jay Rockefeller has filed an amendment to the Chairman’s mark which addresses this issue squarely and recommends a streamlining and strengthening of the CHIP program which may even lower the cost of the bill, since per capita CHIP costs should be lower than the proposal in the mark. We urge you to accept this amendment. We must strengthen the successful and bi-partisan CHIP, and instead focus our energies upon those issues that are in need of fixing.
###
