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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 302 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 302

  To express the sense of the Senate regarding the impact of medicaid 
  reconciliation legislation on the health and well-being of children.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 10, 2005

  Mr. Bingaman (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Reed, Mrs. Clinton, 
Mrs. Murray, Mr. Baucus, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. 
 Dodd, and Mr. Salazar) submitted the following resolution; which was 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  To express the sense of the Senate regarding the impact of medicaid 
  reconciliation legislation on the health and well-being of children.

Whereas the Medicaid program provides health insurance for more than \1/4\ of 
        children in the United States and pays for more than \1/3\ of the births 
        and health care costs for newborns in the United States each year;
Whereas the Medicaid program provides critical access to health care for 
        children with disabilities, covering more than 70 percent of poor 
        children with disabilities and children with special needs in low-income 
        working families, including 1 in 9 military children with special health 
        care needs;
Whereas low-income children who depend on the Medicaid program experience a rate 
        of health conditions and health risks much greater than those found 
        among children who are not low-income;
Whereas the Medicaid program is the largest source of payment for health care 
        provided to children with special health care needs in the Nation and is 
        also a critical source of funding for health care provided to children 
        in foster care and for health care services provided in schools to 
        children eligible for coverage under the Medicaid program;
Whereas the Medicaid program is the single largest source of revenue for the 
        Nation's safety net hospitals, including children's hospitals and 
        community health centers, and is critical to the ability of these 
        providers to adequately serve all children;
Whereas the Medicaid program, in combination with the State Children's Health 
        Insurance Program, has helped to dramatically reduce the number of 
        uninsured children, cutting the rate by more than \1/3\ between 1997 and 
        2003;
Whereas without the Medicaid program, the number of children without health 
        insurance--8,300,000 in 2004--would be substantially higher;
Whereas the Medicaid program's guarantee of affordable coverage and access to 
        necessary health care is essential to the ability of the Medicaid 
        program to adequately serve children whose families have low-incomes and 
        whose health care expenses often exceed the norm;
Whereas for nearly 40 years, the Medicaid program has ensured particularly 
        comprehensive benefits for infants, young children, school-age children, 
        and adolescents, in recognition of the unique growth and development 
        needs of children and the importance of strong and healthy young adults 
        to the safety and welfare of the Nation;
Whereas the Medicaid program's special benefits, added in 1967, were a direct 
        response to findings of the Department of Defense regarding pervasive 
        physical, dental, and developmental conditions among low-income military 
        recruits, and the implications of these findings for national 
        preparedness;
Whereas the Medicaid program's benefits for children are comprehensive, in order 
        to ensure that all low-income infants, even those born too soon and too 
        small, have the chance to survive and thrive into a healthy childhood;
Whereas the Medicaid program's benefits for children help ensure that young 
        children grow and develop properly, arrive at school ready to learn, and 
        have the opportunity to achieve their full educational potential;
Whereas the Medicaid program ensures that children have the benefits, health 
        services, and health care support they need to be fully immunized, and 
        that children can secure eyeglasses, dental care, and hearing aids when 
        necessary, and have access to comprehensive, regularly scheduled, and 
        as-needed health examinations, as well as preventive interventions, to 
        correct physical and mental conditions that threaten to delay proper 
        growth and development;
Whereas the Medicaid program ensures that the sickest and highest risk infants, 
        toddlers, and children have access to the specialized diagnostic and 
        treatment care that become essential when serious illness strikes;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives, as reported out by the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce, would eliminate Medicaid Early and Periodic Screening 
        Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit rules outright for approximately 
        6,000,000 low-income children, whose family incomes are only slightly 
        above the Federal poverty level and who are therefore without the 
        resources to secure basic health care or essential medical care;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives permits States to eliminate the following benefits for 
        children: comprehensive developmental assessments, assessment and 
        treatment for elevated blood lead levels, eyeglasses, dental care, 
        hearing aids, wheelchairs and crutches, respiratory treatment, 
        comprehensive mental health services, prescription drugs, and speech and 
        physical therapy services;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would allow States to impose premiums, deductibles, and 
        copayments on children whose families have incomes only slightly above 
        the Federal poverty level and who therefore cannot afford the cost of 
        medically necessary care and millions of children, especially infants, 
        young children, and school-age children with serious disabilities and 
        high health care needs, would potentially be affected;
Whereas although title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives purports to exempt poor children, it permits States to 
        redefine the meaning of poverty virtually without limitation, in order 
        to eliminate cost sharing safeguards for poor children currently 
        available under the law;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would permit States to require that even the poorest 
        children pay copayments for prescription drugs, without providing 
        exemptions to this requirement, not even in the case of children in 
        foster care or special needs adoptions;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would permit States to allow hospital emergency 
        departments to impose cost sharing requirements on the poor and on near-
        poor infants, toddlers, and young children, without providing exemptions 
        to this requirement, not even in the case of children in foster care or 
        special needs adoptions;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would permit providers to turn children away because 
        their families are unable to pay deductibles and copayments;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would potentially eliminate medical case management 
        coverage for Medicaid-enrolled children in foster care, even though 
        Federal foster care programs expressly assume that medical case 
        management services for such children will be furnished through the 
        Medicaid program;
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would permit States to entirely replace the Medicaid 
        program for children with ``health opportunity accounts'' that eliminate 
        all Medicaid coverage in favor of cash accounts of $1,000 and 
        catastrophic-only, high deductible health insurance coverage for 
        children with family incomes only slightly above the Federal poverty 
        level; and
Whereas title III of the budget reconciliation bill of the House of 
        Representatives would only exempt the poorest children from 
        participation in health opportunity accounts during the first 5 years of 
        the demonstration projects under which the accounts are available and 
        would permit States to redefine the meaning of poverty to any level, no 
        matter how low: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the conferees for 
any budget reconciliation bill of the 109th Congress shall not report a 
reconciliation bill that would--
            (1) allow States to--
                    (A) reduce coverage for medically necessary health 
                care for poor or low-income children; or
                    (B) impose premiums, deductibles, copayments, or 
                coinsurance on poor or low-income children;
            (2) reduce coverage of, or payment for, medical case 
        management services under title XIX of the Social Security Act 
        for children in foster care, including targeted case management 
        services; or
            (3) allow the Secretary to undertake any Health Opportunity 
        Account demonstrations involving poor or low-income children.
                                 <all>
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