Children's Health Inscurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007

Floor Speech

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the SCHIP program will continue. That is a certainty, as certain as anything can be. The question is whether the SCHIP program, the State children's insurance program, will remain true to its targeted population which was contemplated by Congress in 1997 when it passed with strong bipartisan support or whether it will expand into a new burgeoning Federal program that has lost sight of its original mission and which, in the minds of some, represents another incremental step toward a Federal Government takeover of our health care system in America.

Let there be no doubt about it, a Federal, Washington-run health care system would be bad for the children and the people of this country. There are at least three things you can guarantee if Washington takes control of our health care. One is it will be incredibly expensive. In other words, taxes will have to go up to pay for it. Two, it will be incredibly bureaucratic, and some bureaucrat with a green eyeshade will decide what kind of health care you or your family gets. Three, there will be rationing of health care. That same Government bureaucrat will decide whether you get a diagnostic test, whether you can be scheduled for an operation when you need it, or what other kinds of health care decisions you can make. In fact, the choices will be taken from individuals and be given to the Government. That is a bad idea, although there are some who have advocated this for many years, including the leading Democratic contender for President of the United States, who has advocated a government-run health care system since the early 1990s.

This cannot be an expansion of a wildly successful program that has lost its focus on the poor children of America, and how in the world could I possibly say that? Well, this bill we are debating now raises spending by 140 percent--140 percent--at a time when my constituents tell me they are very concerned that the Federal Government has lost its way when it comes to spending and are worried that they will see consequential increases in their tax burden as a result of out-of-control Federal spending.

Along with virtually everyone else in Congress, I strongly believe the SCHIP program should be renewed, and it will be renewed. I voted for a renewal bill called Kids First that provided $10 billion in addition to the $35 billion over 5 years and which would enroll 1.3 million new children in SCHIP. But the majority has rejected that as too miserly.

Whom do they want to cover with the State Children's Health Insurance Program? Well, No. 1, they want to cover adults in 14 States, and in New York City they want to be able to cover up to 400 percent of poverty. A family making $82,000 a year would be--half of whom would be displaced from their private health insurance to get government-funded health insurance at the courtesy of the beleaguered American taxpayer. That is wrong.

The other inadvertent consequence of this will be because government doesn't know how to control health care costs except to ration access to health care, we are going to see more and more people now who will be displaced from private health insurance to go on to government insurance who will find low reimbursement rates--close the doors to access to health care providers. In the city of Austin recently, there was a story written that said only 18 percent of physicians accept new Medicare patients--18 percent. The question was, Why? Well, the Federal Government Medicare reimbursement rate is so low, doctors can't continue to accept new Medicare patients and keep their doors open. In a similar fashion, the SCHIP rate is regulated by the Federal Government, as is the Medicaid rate. The only way many physicians and health care providers keep their doors open is to have a mix of government-subsidized health coverage and private health insurance. We all know private health insurance carries the cost to allow many health care providers to keep their doors open.

It is not conspiracy theories, it is not an exaggeration to say this is an incremental step toward that single-payer, Washington-controlled health care system. Right now, the Federal Government pays 50 percent of the health care costs in America today.

I think it is a bad idea to lose sight of the original target for SCHIP, which is children whose families make up to 200 percent of the poverty level, who have more money than they can make and still qualify for Medicaid. But we should do everything in our power to recommit to those children that we are going to make sure the money Congress appropriates, takes out of the pocket of the taxpayer and provides in terms of health benefits to them, is true to the vision Congress originally intended and that that money which could go to expanding health care coverage to these kids who come from relatively modest incomes is not taken and provided for adult coverage or middle-income coverage in places such as New York for up to 400 percent of the poverty level.

So there is a lot of misinformation and, indeed, downright demagoguery going on in the media and elsewhere with regard to what is happening here. I hope we will make one thing clear: that every Member of the Congress--certainly this Senator--supports a continuation and reauthorization of SCHIP. It is a canard to suggest that anyone is denying access to health care to the children who have benefited historically and should benefit from SCHIP. But it is simply a Trojan horse to suggest that we are merely reauthorizing this legislation because what is happening is we are seeing a dramatic expansion of Federal spending, losing sight of the targeted population, and taking another incremental step toward a disastrous Washington-controlled and -run health care system which will be expensive to the American taxpayer, which will be incredibly bureaucratic, and which will result in rationing of health care, which is something that is not in the best interest of the American people.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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