[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 69 (Monday, May 23, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S5788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Nelson of Florida, 
        Ms. Collins, Mr. Bingaman, and Ms. Cantwell):
  S. 1104. A bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security 
Act to provide States with the option to cover certain legal immigrants 
under the medicaid and State children's health insurance programs; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation that 
would allow States to use Federal funds to provide critical healthcare 
services to pregnant women and children. I want to thank Senator Chafee 
for his leadership on this important issue. I also want to recognize 
former Senator Bob Graham and the late Senator John Chafee, who 
championed this legislation for many years. Their commitment laid the 
groundwork for our bill introduction today.
  This bill, the Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act, is 
fundamentally about three things--fairness, fiscal relief, and 
financial savings.
  I will start with fairness. All across New York and America, legal 
immigrants work hard, pay taxes, and exercise their civic 
responsibilities. I see examples of this every day in New York. They 
fight for our country in the military. They contribute to our Nation's 
competitiveness and economic growth. They help revitalize neighborhoods 
and small towns across the country. And most are fiercely proud to call 
themselves Americans.
  Yet, in 1996, Congress denied safety net services to legal immigrants 
who had been in the country for less than 5 years. Today, Senator 
Chafee and I are here to introduce legislation that would take a first 
step towards correcting that injustice. The Immigrant Children's Health 
Improvement Act will allow States to use, Federal funds to make SCHIP, 
(the State Children's Health Improvement Program, and Medicaid 
available to pregnant women and children who are legal immigrants 
within the 5-year ban.
  There is tremendous need for this legislation. An Urban Institute 
study found that children of immigrants are three times as likely to be 
in fair or poor health. While most children receive preventative 
medicine, such as vaccines, too often immigrant children do not. They 
are forced to receive their healthcare via emergency rooms--the least 
cost-effective place to provide care. To make matters worse, minor 
illnesses, which would be easily treated by a pediatrician, may 
snowball into life-threatening conditions.
  This legislation is also a matter of good fiscal policy. Today, 19 
States, including New York and Rhode Island, plus the District of 
Columbia, use State funds to provide healthcare services to legal 
immigrants within the 5-year waiting period. According to the most 
recent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, at least 155,000 
children and 60,000 adults are receiving these benefits. A total of 
387,000 recent legal immigrants would be eligible to receive these 
services if their States opt to take advantage of the program.
  And finally, this bill is about long-term healthcare cost savings. 
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, covering 
uninsured children and pregnant women through Medicaid can reduce 
unnecessary hospitalization by 22 percent. Pregnant women who forgo 
prenatal care are likely to develop complications during pregnancy, 
which results in higher costs for postpartum care. And women without 
access to prenatal care are four times more likely to deliver low birth 
weight infants and seven times more likely to deliver prematurely than 
women who receive prenatal care, according to the Institute of 
Medicine. All of these health outcomes are costly to society and to the 
individuals involved.
  Thank you for allotting me this time to speak on such an urgent 
matter. I look forward to working with you and the rest of my 
colleagues to enact this bill into law in the near future.
                                 ______