Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

Floor Speech

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009 -- (Senate - January 28, 2009)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, regular health care is critical for a child to grow up to be a strong and healthy adult. We all know that. Yet every day millions of American children are denied access to this very basic need. They cannot get regular checkups or see a family doctor for sore throats or ear aches or fevers. So as our economy continues to struggle, this problem is growing worse.

At the end of 2007, all of us came together on a bipartisan bill that would have taken big steps toward helping millions more kids get health care. It would have renewed the Children's Health Insurance Program and made sure that almost 10 million low-income children would be covered.

It is a tragedy and a shame that children's health care became the victim of a partisan fight. But, this week, now we have the opportunity to make children's health a priority by renewing and expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program and getting it signed into law. And it could not come at a moment too soon.

In the year since former President Bush last vetoed CHIP, unemployment has skyrocketed nationally and in my home State of Washington. As a result, millions of families across our country have lost their health care in just this last year alone. That is wrong, and it is one of the reasons we have now put CHIP at the top of our agenda this year.

In difficult times such as this, it is more important than ever we make sure our Nation's children have a place to go where they can get medical care. So I am here to urge all my colleagues to support the 2009 CHIP reauthorization. It is the smart thing to do for our economy. It is the moral thing to do for our children.

Most of us in the Senate support reauthorizing and improving the Children's Health Insurance Program because we share the goal of ensuring that all our kids can get health care. Study after study has shown the benefits. Children in this program are much more likely to have regular doctor and dental care. The health care they do receive is better quality. They do better in school because they are healthy.

This bill is almost identical to the one we passed overwhelmingly in 2007. It ensures the children already enrolled in CHIP will continue to receive health care, and it provides another 3.9 million low-income children with coverage. Most of those are kids who never had insurance because their parents could not afford it or kids who lost Medicaid coverage or kids who were recently dropped from private insurance rolls. I think it is critical we expand health insurance to make sure they are covered.

Now, there are a couple specific provisions in this bill I wish to highlight to make sure everyone understands why it is so important to pass this bill now.

First, as I said at the beginning of my remarks today, the economic recession has made it even more critical that we make children's health care a top priority and reauthorize this CHIP program.

On Monday of this week, some of the strongest companies in our Nation announced they would cut 75,000 jobs combined. Unemployment is now at the highest level in 16 years, and we are being told we have not seen the worst of it yet.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates every time the unemployment rate increases a point, 700,000 more children lose their health insurance. By those numbers, well over a million more children have lost their insurance in the last year alone, and many more will lose their coverage in the weeks and months to come.

This bill makes it easier for our States to ensure those children will continue at least to get health care. It adds more flexibility to the program and sets funding rates based on State budget projections, so our States that are in the worst financial shape will get more money to help pay for health care. This would be a huge help for my home State of Washington and for the many families who are struggling to provide health care for their children.

At the same time, the bill will strengthen CHIP by making sure resources are targeted at covering the low-income, uninsured children Congress meant to help when we created CHIP back in 1997.

It gives States new tools to raise awareness about CHIP in rural, minority, and low-income communities to help reduce the disparity in care for minority children and extend care where it is most needed. Also, it creates a performance-based system that rewards our States for reducing the number of uninsured children by making sure that the lowest income children are the top priority for CHIP and Medicaid.

Finally, CHIP is paid for. The $32.8 billion cost is covered by a 61-cent per pack tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products. We aren't taking away from our other economic priorities, Social Security isn't raided, and the deficit won't be increased. It is a win-win for everyone because experts estimate that by increasing the cost of cigarettes, almost 2 million adults will quit smoking and then we will prevent millions of kids from ever getting hooked. It is good for our children now and it will help millions stay healthy in the future as well.

Although this bill does have broad bipartisan support, some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have tried to throw up some obstacles that distract us from the real issues. I wish to make clear right now what this bill is about. It is about our kids. This legislation is about making sure our children can see a doctor when they are sick. It is about making sure they get medicine that will help them get better. It is about honoring our promise to provide 10 million kids with health care that will help ensure they can grow into happy and healthy adults.

I come to the floor this afternoon to share a story about a little girl from my home State because I think it puts the importance of this legislation in perspective.

Meet Brenna. She is 6 years old, a bright and happy child, but she has a serious genetic condition called cystic fibrosis. Brenna's family lives in Marysville, WA, in a part of my State that has been hit tremendously hard by the economic downturn. Like a lot of people with cystic fibrosis, Brenna's health care costs are about 10 times more than the average child. It is nearly impossible for her to get private health insurance to cover the bills she and her family are facing. In fact, almost half of the children with cystic fibrosis would not have health care at all if they didn't have CHIP or Medicaid.

Brenna's mother Brandy recently wrote to me to tell me that her family depends on CHIP for Brenna and to keep her family going. I wish to read what she wrote. She said:

I don't know what I would do if I did not have this wonderful program. I simply would not be able to pay for her to receive the care she does now. I would be in never-ending medical debt, and in the end of it all, I would most likely lose my daughter either way.

The economy is rough enough right now. The SCHIP program is something I am extremely thankful for. It provides me sanity and strength every year to take care of my child and her needs. Please allow this program to continue. Our lives depend on it.

Those are heart-wrenching words from a mom. Most of us can't even imagine being in Brandy's shoes. Her daughter's story shows us how critical this Children's Health Insurance Program is. This bill in front of us today is about Brenna and the millions of children like her around the country.

What it comes down to is this: When a child gets a cut that needs stitches, has a fever or an earache or develops a serious illness such as cystic fibrosis, they should be able to get health care period. I want to make sure Brenna's mom never has to worry about her going into debt to keep her own child alive, or whether health care will be there for her daughter.

So let me say it again: This bill is about making sure our kids can see a doctor. Passing it is the smartest thing we can do for our economy, but it is also the moral thing to do for our children. So on behalf of 6-year-old Brenna, the 115,960 uninsured children in my home State of Washington, and the almost 9 million uninsured children across the country, I urge all of our colleagues to support this bill.

I yield the floor.

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