Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2 as amended and this rule. We will finally pass the children's health care bill today, send it to President Obama for his signature, and provide affordable medical care to millions of children across America.

I was in the pediatrician's office last Friday with my daughters. There is nothing like the feeling of knowing that your children are healthy after a checkup or that they are on the road to recovery. I speak for millions of parents who can share that sense of relief because they can take their kids to the doctor's office and do so without breaking the family bank.

What good news for all Americans that one of the first bills President Obama will sign today will be one that improves access to quality affordable health care and reduces the cost of health care for families.

More affordable health care is central to our economic recovery and it is fundamental for families.

I am proud to say that the precursor to SCHIP originated in the 1990s as a novel health care initiative in my home State of Florida where the innovators enrolled kids in a health care plan at the start of the school year. They understood that healthy kids succeed in school at higher rates.

President Clinton and the Congress were so impressed by what Florida was doing in Florida Kidcare, they took the blueprint and fashioned the national SCHIP partnership.

Access to health care for working families in my community and all over America through this innovative partnership between Federal, State and local communities is a winning proposition.

The new law will make it easier for parents and kids to afford the doctor's office visits, and encourage States to cut costly bureaucratic red tape.

Our children's health care initiative ensures that newborn babies receive the medical checkups and immunizations they need, ensures that toddlers and children are taken care of as they grow, and ensures that we all save money through preventative care.

Suffering through President Bush's opposition over the past years has been very costly, and we have lost ground. In Florida alone, over 800,000 children lack health insurance and that's the third highest rate in the U.S. It's more than the population of some States and it is growing. The lack of affordable health care for these working families is making it more expensive for everyone.

We are on a different path now.

I thank the many members who championed SCHIP as an initiative that works within a broader health care system that leaves many unable to afford health care in America, especially Speaker Pelosi, who never gave up and kept the promise that in the first days of a new Congress with a new President, the health of America's kids and the pocketbooks of hardworking families would be paramount.

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