Support for Increased SCHIP Funding

SUPPORT FOR INCREASED SCHIP FUNDING

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, today I rise to call upon this Congress to assist States facing overwhelming shortfalls in funding their State health insurance programs.

In 1997, Congress created the SCHIP programs to help States provide health care coverage to the growing number of uninsured children throughout the United States. Ten years later, more than 6 million children have been enrolled in this program. They are going for annual check-ups to the doctor, and they are getting their prescription medications that they need. And they are also receiving care when they are extremely sick.

Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, this program's success is threatened by inadequate funding, and hundreds of thousands of these children stand to lose this health care coverage they have grown to rely upon.

Federal funding has failed to keep up with the program's expanding enrollment. An inefficient allocation of these funds means some States are sitting on more than $1 billion of SCHIP funding, while 14 States, including my own State of Georgia, face severe shortfalls on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars.

This inadequate funding has forced some States to consider stopping all SCHIP medical services. Without help from the Congress, Congress will be unable to continue to provide health care for the 300,000 children enrolled in its Peachcare SCHIP program. Without increased Federal funding, these children will no longer receive their immunizations. They will no longer get their teeth cleaned, or their eyesight checked. And worse still, they will not be able to afford emergency room care in the event of a tragedy.

Madam Speaker, terminating coverage for these children would lead this country further away from decreasing the number of uninsured children in the United States. Congress must act expediently to allocate Federal funding to those States facing SCHIP shortfalls. It must reauthorize the program to ensure that all six million enrolled children continue to receive health care.

It must increase Federal funding so that more uninsured children can be enrolled in this program and get the health care that they deserve. I look forward to working with my colleagues from Georgia and other affected States to rectify this increasingly dire situation.

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