[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 111 (Thursday, August 2, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF THE VACCINES FOR CHILDREN LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2001

  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be joined by many of my 
colleagues in introducing legislation today to improve children's 
access to immunization. Our bill will correct a technicality that now 
denies children enrolled in some State Children's Health Insurance 
Programs (SCHIP) free vaccines through the Vaccines for Children 
Program.
  Today is a fitting day to introduce this bill because it is the first 
day of ``National Immunization Awareness Month.'' Immunization is the 
first stage in a lifetime of good health. Diseases such as polio, 
measles, and whooping cough have been virtually eradicated in the 
United States through widespread immunization. But access to needed 
vaccines can be severely constrained by the cost of $600 per child for 
the recommended schedule of immunizations. Federal programs such as 
Vaccines for Children were created to help ease the financial burden of 
vaccinations on poor families--we need to make sure that these vaccines 
continue to go to those who need them most.
  The Vaccines for Children and the SCHIP were both designed to improve 
the health of children--we must now guarantee that they work well 
together. Because of a ruling by the Department of Health and Human 
Services in 1998, in states that chose to offer children insurance 
through non-Medicaid programs, children enrolled in SCHIP lost their 
eligibility for free vaccines. In California, this affected almost 
580,000 children, and it costs the state $18 million a year to fill the 
gap left by the lack of coordination between these two programs. 
Children in 32 other states are similarly affected.
  Our legislation would add children enrolled in State Children's 
Health Insurance Programs to the list of children eligible for Vaccines 
for Children, regardless of the way SCHIP is delivered in their state. 
These children received free vaccines when they were uninsured, and 
would receive vaccines were they enrolled in a Medicaid SCHIP program 
in another state. We must now fill the promise of better health care 
that came with the passage of SCHIP in 1997, and include these children 
in Vaccines for Children as well.

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