Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2, Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. This bill is not perfect but on its whole, it extends critical funding to ensure that kids in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) don't lose access to health insurance and to keep community health centers open to serve hardworking American families. It funds the successful Home Visiting Program, makes permanent a program to assist low-income seniors afford their Medicare premiums, and supports families on Medicaid who are transitioning to work. On top of preventing massive cuts to these programs, the legislation replaces a flawed payment system that wasn't working for people in Medicare, their physicians, or taxpayers.

In some areas--specifically in extending funding for CHIP for two years--I don't think the bill goes far enough. As a longtime supporter of CHIP, I advocated to extend funding for four years and included a four-year extension in the budget I offered in the House. House Democratic leadership fought for a four-year extension but was met with resistance from Republicans who have made quite clear that they would rather roll back coverage for kids in CHIP. Despite the two-year compromise, I'm pleased that the legislation funds CHIP at current levels and maintains the safeguards we set in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to ensure coverage for every eligible child in the nation. Failure to pass this bill and fund CHIP would cause millions of kids to become uninsured or lose access to services, or would cause their parents to face higher out-of-pocket costs.

The bill also includes two years of additional funding for community health centers which provide primary care to families, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans in Maryland and across the nation. Health centers keep people healthy and working by responding to the unique needs of their communities, create good-paying jobs, and train the next generation of the health care workforce. Without this bill, funding for health centers would be cut by 70 percent and over 7 million Americans could be at risk of losing critical health services. Not funding very cost-effective health providers is irresponsible and unfair to hardworking American families.

It comes as no surprise that my Republican colleagues would have liked to hijack this bill for their arsenal in their unending assault on women's health. If you need any evidence, just look at what Republicans did in the Senate trying to use the human trafficking bill to expand the Hyde amendment to permanent funds and non-taxpayer funds. I applaud the Democratic Senators blocking that Republican anti-choice effort. Let me be clear; this bill does not do that. I worked with Leader Pelosi and the co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, of which I am a member, to counter attempts to codify the Hyde amendment. As a result, this bill continues the current policy for funding for community health centers. Just like the Hyde language included in annual appropriations bills, the provision is limited to taxpayer funds and temporary--terminating when the funding expires in 2017. I strongly share the ongoing concerns of the reproductive health community and I remain deeply committed to protecting a woman's fundamental right to choose her health care.

Finally, the bill repeals and replaces a deeply flawed physician payment system for paying physicians that basically penalizes doctors for participating in Medicare. For more than ten years, doctors have faced the threat of steep rate cuts required by a mindless formula in the law. Congress has repeatedly adopted short-term patches to prevent these cuts from taking effect. This crisis-driven approach to paying physicians makes it difficult for doctors to participate in Medicare, which ultimately is unfair to their patients--the seniors and disabled workers who rely on Medicare for access to the health care services they need. The bill rights this wrong with a smarter physician payment system that improves quality of care for people with Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, today's bill is not perfect but Congress must move forward with this bipartisan agreement to protect the health of America's families, children and seniors. I urge support H.R. 2.

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