IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 215 
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the importance of 
Medicaid in the health care system of our Nation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2005 
Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. PALLONE, 
Mr. STRICKLAND, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. DAVIS 
of Florida, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. STARK, Mr. 
LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. 
EMANUEL, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, 
Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. OBEY, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. WATSON, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. FARR, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. BOUCHER, 
Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORAN 
of Virginia, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. JEF-
FERSON, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. OBERSTAR, 
Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. 
CARNAHAN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. 
GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. SKEL-
TON, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ROSS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, 
Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. 
VAN HOLLEN, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. REYES, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. FILNER, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. 
MEEHAN, Mr. STUPAK, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 
LEE, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. MARSHALL, 
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. 
CLEAVER, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. DICKS, 
Ms. SOLIS, and Mr. POMEROY) submitted the following concurrent resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the
•HCON 215 IH 
importance of Medicaid in the health care system of 
our Nation. 
Whereas Medicaid was signed into law by President Lyndon 
B. Johnson in Independence, Missouri, on July 30, 1965, 
as title XIX of the Social Security Act; 
Whereas under the Social Security Act, two programs were 
established to provide health insurance: Medicare for the 
elderly and Medicaid for the poor; 
Whereas Medicaid is one of the Nation’s major public health 
insurance programs, providing health and long-term care 
for more than 58 million Americans, including children, 
pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, and the el-
derly who are poor and frail; 
Whereas Medicaid serves in a counter-cyclical role during eco-
nomic downturns and during the recent economic slump 
between 2001 and 2002, Medicaid enrollment grew by 
three million people who, if not for Medicaid, would have 
become uninsured; 
Whereas Medicaid is the most efficient payor in the market 
such that the average growth rate for Medicaid costs was 
nearly 7 percent per enrollee, substantially lower than the 
12.6 percent growth in employer-sponsored insurance 
premiums from 2000 and 2003; 
Whereas Medicaid provides health coverage to more than one 
in four of the Nation’s children and those children rep-
resent nearly half of all Medicaid enrollees; 
Whereas studies have found that children enrolled in public 
health insurance programs experienced substantial im-
provement in school attendance and behavior and in-
creased engagement in normal childhood activities;
•HCON 215 IH 
Whereas Medicaid is an important source of health care cov-
erage for women in general, and low-income women in 
particular, in that women are twice as likely to qualify 
for Medicaid than men, women constitute over 70 percent 
of the adult beneficiaries, and one in five low-income 
women are covered by Medicaid; 
Whereas Medicaid plays a particularly critical role for women 
of childbearing age in that Medicaid is the primary pro-
vider of necessary prenatal care for low-income pregnant 
women and covers nearly 40 percent of all births in the 
United States; 
Whereas Medicaid is an important source of financial help for 
more than 7 million Medicare beneficiaries living in pov-
erty by paying their Medicare premiums and cost shar-
ing, and covering the costs of other essential services not 
provided by Medicare, such as dental care, long-term 
care, and vision care; 
Whereas Medicaid is a lifeline for individuals living with dis-
abilities, providing health insurance coverage to approxi-
mately eight million, or one-in-five, noninstitutionalized, 
non-elderly people who have specific, chronic disabilities, 
and is often the only source of health care for individuals 
with spinal cord injury, mental illness, and other dis-
abling conditions such as cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, 
Downs syndrome, mental retardation, muscular dys-
trophy, autism, spina bifida, and HIV/AIDS; 
Whereas Medicaid reduces disparities in health care delivery 
to racial and ethnic minorities, who make up approxi-
mately one-third of the total United States population 
but constitute more than half of those who receive health 
care through Medicaid and without Medicaid, racial and
•HCON 215 IH 
ethnic minorities would make up a disproportionate num-
ber of Americans who are uninsured; 
Whereas Medicaid plays a critical role ensuring that Ameri-
cans living in rural areas receive health care insofar as 
residents in rural counties are 50 percent more likely to 
have Medicaid coverage than residents in urban counties 
and Medicaid covers nearly 30 percent of children in 
rural areas compared to less than 19 percent of children 
in urban areas; and 
Whereas Medicaid’s protection against high out-of-pocket ex-
penses for vulnerable, low-income Americans has encour-
aged and increased access to necessary health care and 
more than 40 percent of low-income adults who are under 
the age of 65, when forced to pay cost sharing, will 
choose to forego medical visits for clinically effective 
health care and low-income children receive 44 percent 
fewer clinically effective health care services: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) over the past four decades Medicaid has 
been a core component of the American health sys-
tem; 
(2) Medicaid has ensured that the vast majority 
of Medicaid beneficiaries did not join the ranks of 
the current 45 million Americans with no health in-
surance; and
•HCON 215 IH 
(3) Congress must continue and strengthen the 
State-Federal partnership that provides this vital 
health insurance program. 
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