Baldwin Votes to Strengthen BadgerCare

Press Release

Baldwin Votes to Strengthen BadgerCare

SCHIP Reauthorization Bill Passes House Today

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin joined the majority of House Members (225-204) today in passing the "Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007" (CHAMP Act, H.R. 3162), a bill that reauthorizes funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP - pronounced ess-chip), called "BadgerCare" in Wisconsin.

"SCHIP is a successful program that has been amazingly effective in providing health care for millions of children and families around the country and I'm delighted that the CHAMP Act will strengthen and expand this important program to cover additional eligible children. I'm proud to support this legislation which will directly benefit thousands of Wisconsin families," Baldwin said.

SCHIP was created in 1997 with broad bipartisan support and currently provides healthcare coverage for 6 million children of working families. If legislation reauthorizing SCHIP is not signed by the President by September 30, 2007, those children could lose their health insurance.

According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, the CHAMP Act will provide health care to 11 million children—including five million who are currently uninsured - by providing $50 billion in new funding for children's health insurance coverage through the SCHIP and Medicaid programs. Two out of every three uninsured children in the United States are eligible for coverage through these two programs, but are not insured. Overall, the CHAMP Act will provide 5 million additional children with health insurance coverage across the United States.

Believing that family-based coverage would be more effective than child-only coverage in providing health insurance to uninsured children, Wisconsin included parents in BadgerCare from its inception and received waivers from the Department of Health and Human Services to do so.

Baldwin had argued for the value of this family-centered approach to providing health care telling her colleagues, "This approach has worked. Parents are more likely to sign their children up for BadgerCare because they know that they too can receive coverage through the program. And children of insured parents are more likely to receive preventive and other more appropriate levels of health care services than covered children of uninsured parents. The CHAMP Act does not change current law with respect to the eligibility of parents.

The bill also provides other measures to increase state flexibility that Baldwin advocated, including:

* A state option for the coverage of older children up to age 21, up from the previous age limit of 19. With 30% of Americans between 18 and 24 uninsured, this will have a real impact on reducing the number of uninsured in this country.
* State flexibility for verifying citizenship documentation. The WI Council on Children and Families reports that, because of the Deficit Reduction Act's restrictive citizenship documentation requirements, from July 31, 2006, through July 1, 2007, a total of 25,769 individuals in Wisconsin lost their coverage or were denied Medicaid or BadgerCare enrollment solely because of the federal documentation requirements. More than half of these were children under age 16. About two-thirds of these people are known by the state to be U.S. citizens; and most of the remainder are likely citizens, as well, but have yet to prove it. Giving the states more flexibility in verifying citizenship will ensure that people receive necessary health care.
* Increased mental health benefits for children. According to the Surgeon General's comprehensive report on mental health, about one in five American children is affected by mental disorders. Children in Medicaid and SCHIP have the highest rates of mental health problems. Despite the prevalence of mental disorders among our nation's children, a large majority of children struggling with these difficulties—79% by some estimates—do not receive mental health care; and current SCHIP law limits access to mental health services. Under the CHAMP Act, SCHIP plans' mental health benefits will be increased (to meet 100% of the actuarial value of the benchmark plan, rather than 75% as in current law).

Baldwin also said she's proud that, "the CHAMP Act does not pit children against seniors, but instead works to improve health care for both children and seniors."

The bill includes investments in Medicare that will directly benefit the health of seniors, including:

* Changing policy so that doctors will not be subjected to the 10% scheduled cut in reimbursement. Providing this fix will ensure that beneficiaries have continued access to their physicians.
* Expanding and improving the programs which ensure that Medicare remains affordable to those with lower incomes.
* Expanding access to preventive benefits and mental health benefits for all of Medicare's seniors. (more)

The bill also revamps the S-CHIP funding formula to Wisconsin's benefit.

How the CHAMP Act Affects Wisconsin & BadgerCare:

* The coverage of 56,600 children currently enrolled in Wisconsin's CHIP program will be secured.
* The CHAMP Act provides essential funding for the State to reach the 63,000 children in families with incomes under 200% FPL who remain uninsured.
* The nearly 26,000 beneficiaries in Wisconsin who recently lost coverage as a result of implementation of citizenship documentation requirements will be helped. (Nearly 17,000, or two-thirds, of those who were denied or lost coverage are people who the state knows are citizens, but who could not document their identity.) Children will have eligibility retroactively restored. Other populations will have a more flexible list of documentation.
* The State of Wisconsin will be guaranteed continued savings from its family planning program. Low income women in the State with annual incomes under approximately $25,000 will be guaranteed low-cost services without having to rely on a waiver.
* Coverage for 40,000 of the lowest income, most vulnerable adults with incomes below $25,000 will remain protected.
* More than 230,500 Medicare beneficiaries, including seniors and people with disabilities, with incomes under 150% of the poverty level, will be helped by improvements in the Medicare Savings Program and Low Income Subsidy Program. A substantial number of seniors will receive an additional $1,200 annually from assistance with the cost of their Medicare Part B Premium.
* More than 114,400 of the poorest residents in Wisconsin will be protected with limits on out of pocket costs for prescription drugs, including those in home and community care settings.
* The 22,000 Wisconsin seniors receiving Part D assistance will benefit from simplified applications and automatic renewal of eligibility - helping ensure they do not lose essential assistance due to red tape and bureaucracy.
* Taxpayers in Wisconsin will benefit from eliminating overpayments to private plans in Medicare. The overpayments in Wisconsin amount to $215 million for FY07 alone.

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