[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 113 (Monday, July 16, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H7823-H7824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SCHIP REAUTHORIZATION AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support 
for the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program or SCHIP, our Nation's health care safety net for 
low-income, uninsured children.
  We are at a critical juncture in our Nation's health care crisis. An 
estimated 46 million Americans are uninsured. Approximately 18,000 
people die each year in this country as a direct consequence of being 
uninsured. Sadly, many of the victims are innocent children. No fewer 
than 9 million American children are without health insurance, and they 
are suffering as a result.
  Uninsured children, like uninsured adults, are less likely to have 
access to early and preventive care, setting them up for a lifetime of 
health problems that may have been avoided if caught today. Far too 
many of our children are going to the emergency room because we have 
failed to let them into the doctor's office.
  This is immoral, but it is also uneconomical. Preventive health care 
services are cheaper than disease management and trauma care. By 
denying our citizenry the former, we are paying a premium for the 
latter.
  The President has ignored the potential cost savings, arguing, 
instead, that an expanded SCHIP program would move children off of 
private insurance, but that is simply not the case. The vast majority 
of children who would be covered by this bill come from families with 
less than $33,200 for a family of three. These families do not have the 
luxury of choosing private insurance over the public benefit. For them, 
it is public coverage or nothing.
  We have a moral obligation to ensure that our children have access to 
health care. Our health care system produces infant mortality rates and 
incidences

[[Page H7824]]

of health disparities far greater than other nations in the 
industrialized world. We know statistically that racial and ethnic 
minorities suffer disproportionately from poor health and die 
prematurely. More than 30 years after the national embarrassment of 
Tuskegee Syphilis Experience, our people are still being denied access 
to the best medical system in the world.
  This trend recently played out in my home State in Maryland in an 
incident that I still find difficult to comprehend. In February, a 12-
year-old African American boy named Deamonte Driver died when an 
untreated tooth infection spread to his brain. A routine dental checkup 
costing about $40 might have saved his life. But Deamonte was poor and 
homeless, and he did not have access to a dentist.
  Deamonte's case was rare and extreme, but he is by no means alone in 
his suffering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report 
that dental disease is the single-most chronic childhood disease in 
this country. It chills the conscience to think of how one young boy's 
life was cut short by the failure of our health care system, and 
millions of others continue to suffer.
  We have a moral obligation in the memory of Deamonte to fix this 
problem now. This is why I have consistently advocated for a strong 
SCHIP bill that expands coverage to 6 million of our Nation's poorest 
children and guarantees them dental coverage.
  I was discouraged to see that the first version of the bill from the 
Senate Finance Committee included only $35 million in additional 
funding and did not include mandatory dental benefit. As a Washington 
Post editorial board recently noted, memories are sometimes short here 
in Washington. I realize the current budgetary constraints make this 
process all the more contentious; however, these are times that require 
decisive leadership. I am hopeful that in the House we will be able to 
find funding to expand the program by $50 million while working with 
our Senate colleagues to negotiate a strong bill.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this vitally important 
legislation.

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