Issue Position: Children's Health

Issue Position

The House passed H.R. 2, the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) and President Obama signed it into law in February of 2009. As the lead whip, U.S. Rep. DeGette ensured this important legislation's passage. It will enroll 4.1 million new children in CHIP and Medicaid, bringing the total number of children covered by the program to 11 million. The bill will cost$32.3 billion over 5 years and it is fully paid for.

CHIPRA legislation remains very similar to legislation passed in the 110th, with a few key changes that vastly improve the legislation over what former President Bush vetoed. First, states will now have the option of providing coverage to legal immigrant children and pregnant women within their first 5 years of residency in the United States. Current restrictions prevent children and pregnant women from getting cost-effective, timely preventive and regular care, including prenatal care, which, in turn, would increase the likelihood that they will need costly emergency room care. However, the bill explicitly states that no funds can be used to cover undocumented immigrants and requires that states verify citizenship.

The legislation retains strong provisions from previous iterations of the bill. For example, it gives states the option to provide coverage to all pregnant women, which is vital to ensuring the health of future generations. Women who receive prenatal care are more likely to have access to screening and diagnosis tests that can identify and treat problems early - improving the health of both the mother and the infant and reducing their future health care costs. The bill also preserves simplified outreach and enrollment procedures such as "Express-Lane" eligibility, and provides incentives in the form of bonus payments for states that strengthen outreach and enrollment and increase the number of children on the rolls.

In the face of the current economic downturn, it was even more vital that we enact CHIPRA. Sharp increases in unemployment are adding to the ranks of the uninsured, while at the same time, state budgets are shrinking and the health care safety-net is struggling to meet this increased demand. It was imperative that we took the first step toward covering all children in the U.S. and passed a strong reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program on a bipartisan basis.

National Children's Health Facts and Goals

* Six million children in this country who are eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid do not have health insurance

* State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance currently for more than 7 million children.

* Recently enacted legislation will protect coverage for those children and expand it to include an additional 4.1 million children who would otherwise be uninsured. (1.4 million of these are new Medicaid enrollees), bringing the total number of children covered to 11 million.

* Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility expansions have been directly tied to an 8.5% reduction in infant mortality, a 5.1% reduction in childhood mortality, and a 7.8% reduction in low birth weight.

Colorado Children's Health Facts and Goals

* 173,979 uninsured children in Colorado

* 85,000 children in Colorado are currently enrolled in the children's health program, but there are an estimated 50,000 children who are eligible for CHP+ but not enrolled.

* The legislation increases federal SCHIP funding available to Colorado by 36 percent to$97.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year and enrolls 60,000 additional children into SCHIP.

* The increased funding will help Colorado ensure that all children who meet the program's eligibility requirements can be covered by the program.

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