[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 49 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 49

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the importance of 
           Medicaid in the health care system of our Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 29, 2005

 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bingaman, 
   Mr. Reid, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Stabenow, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Corzine, Mr. 
 Schumer, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Obama, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Reed, 
  Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Dorgan, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. 
Wyden, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Biden, 
   Mr. Dayton, Mr. Levin, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. 
Lautenberg, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Salazar, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Dodd, 
Mr. Bayh, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Leahy, 
     Mr. Byrd, and Mr. Carper) submitted the following concurrent 
       resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the 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 elderly who are poor and frail;
Whereas Medicaid serves in a counter-cyclical role during economic 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 to 2003;
Whereas Medicaid provides health coverage to more than one in four of the 
        Nation's children and those children represent nearly half of all 
        Medicaid enrollees;
Whereas studies have found that children enrolled in public health insurance 
        programs experienced substantial improvement in school attendance and 
        behavior and increased engagement in normal childhood activities;
Whereas Medicaid is an important source of health care coverage 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 provider 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 poverty by paying their 
        Medicare premiums and cost sharing, 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 disabilities, 
        providing health insurance coverage to approximately 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 disabling 
        conditions such as cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, Downs syndrome, 
        mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, autism, spina bifida, and HIV/
        AIDS;
Whereas Medicaid reduces disparities in health care delivery to racial and 
        ethnic minorities, who make up approximately 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 
        ethnic minorities would make up a disproportionate number of Americans 
        who are uninsured;
Whereas Medicaid plays a critical role in ensuring that Americans 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 expenses for 
        vulnerable, low-income Americans has encouraged 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, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 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 system;
            (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 insurance; and
            (3) Congress must continue and strengthen the State-Federal 
        partnership that provides this vital health insurance program.
                                 <all>