Cornyn: Passage of SCHIP, Medicare Extension Bill Important Step For Health Care Access in Texas

Statement

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn made the following statement Tuesday regarding unanimous Senate passage of the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007:

"This important legislation ensures that Texas will have the funds necessary to meet current and future needs of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Last week, I urged congressional leaders to pass an extension that would provide the necessary resources to cover low-income children in Texas. It's encouraging to see they have done just that.

"While this extension is good news, an SCHIP reauthorization and expansion I voted for earlier this year would have allocated additional funding for outreach and enrollment to cover children eligible but not yet enrolled. I will continue working in the Senate to get this done, and working with state officials to find ways to ease this process.

"In addition, I was glad to support the effort to pass legislation preventing physicians' Medicare payment cuts. These cuts would have decreased access to health care for many Texas seniors. Congress needs to work in an open and deliberative process to develop a permanent fix to the broken physician payment system so these harmful cuts don't resurface."

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