[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 140 (Friday, October 15, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S12690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               MOTHERS AND NEWBORNS HEALTH INSURANCE ACT

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Mothers and 
Newborns Health Insurance Act, a bill that I have introduced along with 
my colleagues Senators Bond, Breaux, Lincoln, and McCain.
  As you know, Mr. President, in 1997 Congress passed the Children's 
Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. CHIP is a joint Federal-State 
program, designed to ensure that children of low-income working 
families have access to health insurance. I'm proud to have worked on 
the Senate Finance Committee to establish CHIP, and I remain committed 
to its guiding principle: that all children should have access to the 
medical care they need to stay healthy and strong.
  In fact, just 13 days ago, the Montana CHIP program went into effect. 
So as I speak, children in my state are already benefitting from this 
program.
  But while CHIP is important, it is not without imperfections. Most 
notably, States are not allowed to extend CHIP funds to low-income, 
pregnant adult women. This just doesn't make sense. If pregnant women 
go uninsured, they are far less likely to receive prenatal care. And if 
they don't receive prenatal care, their babies face a much higher risk 
of having health problems, from premature birth to birth defects. We 
should make sure that these babies are healthy and strong from the very 
start, by allowing states to offer health insurance to low-income 
pregnant women under CHIP.
  A second problem with CHIP is that, just like the Medicaid program, 
we've had a hard time getting the word out about it. Right now, there 
are 358,000 pregnant woman and fully 3 million children who are 
eligible for Medicaid, but are not enrolled in the program. The same 
holds true with CHIP: across the United States, low-income, uninsured 
kids cannot benefit from the program, because they aren't enrolled.
  Mr. President, our bill is aimed at solving these problems, and 
making CHIP an even stronger, more effective program. First, it would 
give States the freedom to extend CHIP funds to low-income, pregnant 
mothers above the age of 19. This is a critical steps toward empowering 
our States to provide health care to those who need it most, when they 
need it most. As many as 45,000 pregnant women could benefit from this 
change every year--and bare in mind, that means that 45,000 babies 
could benefit as well.
  And let me add, Mr. President, that this does not create a new 
Federal mandate. To the contrary, this provision would only increase 
the freedom of the States to direct these Federal health care resources 
as they see fit.
  Second, our bill would assist States in reaching out to their 
uninsured citizens. When Congress passed the welfare reform bill in 
1996, we also created a $500 million fund that States could use to let 
uninsured folks know if they were eligible for Medicaid. The problem 
is, most of this money has gone unused. And in just a short while, most 
states will lose their 3-year window of opportunity to use these funds. 
Our bill will eliminate this 3-year deadline, to allow continued access 
to these funds. It will also allow states to use the funds to reach out 
to both Medicaid and CHIP-eligible women and children. By making this 
change, we can help ensure that CHIP and Medicaid function as they are 
supposed to--and that the mothers and children who need health 
insurance coverage will get it.
   Mr. President, most of my colleagues, liberal and conservative 
alike, agree that CHIP is a step in the right direction toward solving 
the growing problem of the uninsured. Let's act now to make CHIP even 
stronger.

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