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[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 9 (Thursday, January 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E101-E102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

    CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 14, 2009

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I voted yesterday in support of our Nation's 
children and for passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program 
Reauthorization Act of 2009, H.R. 2.
  More than 7.1 million children have health insurance because of the 
creation, a decade ago, of the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program, SCHIP. However, these children will lose access to good, 
affordable health insurance if Congress does not act to reauthorize the 
SCHIP program by March 31, 2009.
  Yesterday, the House approved the Children's Health Insurance Program 
Reauthorization Act of 2009, which would expand the SCHIP program to 
ensure even more children have access to the health care their parents 
cannot afford or who work in jobs that do not provide health care 
benefits. The House of Representatives has passed similar legislation 
twice before to extend and expand SCHIP,

[[Page E102]]

only to have those bills vetoed by President Bush. I hope that on the 
third consideration of this legislation to improve children's health 
that this bill will be signed into law.
  The expansion of this program is even more important today as many 
workers are losing their health insurance and face great economic 
hardships during the recent recession. The Kaiser Family Foundation 
projects that the current unemployment level of 7 percent would 
increase Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment by 2.4 million people and an 
additional 2.6 million people would become uninsured. The number of 
uninsured will rise higher should the unemployment rates climb even 
further. This legislation would reduce the size of this uninsured 
population by expanding SCHIP to include an additional 4 million 
children who currently have no health insurance. Sending a child to the 
emergency room is not an alternative to having comprehensive health 
insurance. Especially at a time when millions of families are facing 
economic hardships, we must ensure that children have the care they 
need.
  This bill would provide parity for mental health for children. I long 
have fought for mental health parity, and was pleased that last year we 
could improve mental health coverage for private insurance plans and 
Medicare. I am encouraged that we have now extended this to the SCHIP 
program.
  According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 45 
million Americans lack health care coverage, including more than 16 
percent of New Jersey's residents. Many of these Americans are 
children, the vast majority of whom come from working families. It is 
simply unconscionable that here in the United States of America 
millions of children are uninsured. The reauthorization and expansion 
of the SCHIP program presents an historic opportunity to put an end to 
the morally unacceptable fact that 8.6 million American children live 
every day without insurance. It is time for Congress to preserve and 
expand this program that has proven successful at insuring our nation's 
most vulnerable children.
  The SCHIP program is strongly supported by our nation's governors who 
have managed the State-run programs over the past decade and understand 
that SCHIP allows States to cover low-income children who lack health 
insurance in families of the working poor. This bill also would provide 
the tools needed and create incentives for States to reach the millions 
of children who are eligible but not currently enrolled in the SCHIP 
program.
  New Jersey uses its SCHIP funds to run a program called FamilyCare. 
Our State is a leader in extending FamilyCare eligibility. Currently, 
150,000 children and approximately 100,000 low income-parents are 
enrolled in New Jersey's program. Without SCHIP, all of these residents 
of New Jersey would again be uninsured.
  This legislation would allow States like New Jersey to continue to 
set income eligibility for SCHIP. Because the cost of living is so high 
in New Jersey, it is important that our State has the flexibility 
needed to establish realistic eligibility guidelines.
  Additionally, this bill would allow New Jersey to continue to enroll 
parents along with their children. According to research by the 
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, one highly 
effective way of boosting coverage among low-income children is to 
broaden health insurance to their parents. Currently, New Jersey is one 
of 11 States to cover low-income parents.
  Because we are committed to balanced budgets and opposed to deficit 
spending, this bill pays for this historic commitment to our children 
with an appropriate increase in the Federal tobacco tax and by imposing 
restrictions on self-referral to physician-owned hospitals. According 
to the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, the 61 cent-per-pack increase in 
the cigarette tax that is included in this bill would result in 
substantially fewer youth smokers, as every 10 percent increase in the 
price of cigarettes would reduce youth smoking by approximately 7 
percent. This would improve their health and result in longterm 
healthcare savings.
  There are 11 million reasons to vote for this bill, each one a child 
who will move out of the ranks of the uninsured with the health care 
provided in the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization 
Act. A measure of a nation's greatness is how it treats its most 
vulnerable citizens. By making health insurance available for 11 
million children, we live up to our moral obligation to keep children 
healthy and we make our society stronger.

                          ____________________
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