[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 140 (Thursday, September 20, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1946-E1947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     H.R. 3162:--THE CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND MEDICARE PROTECTION ACT

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                          HON. ANDER CRENSHAW

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2007

  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my displeasure 
with H.R. 3162--The Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act 
(CHAMP). The CHAMP Act would expand the existing State Children's 
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by giving nearly 5 million children 
who come from middle-income families access to free healthcare. This 
proposal pays for this expansion by cutting 3 million senior citizens' 
access to Medicare. This legislation would nearly double the 6.6 
million children who are currently enrolled in the SCHIP program.
  In my home state of Florida, the current SCHIP program level covers 
children in families who earn up to 200 percent above the poverty 
level, which amounts to a $41,200 annual income for a family of four. I 
support the SCHIP program in its current form. However, I cannot 
support an over-expansion of the program that uses hard-earned tax 
dollars to provide free healthcare to children and adults who come from 
middle-income families that make 300 to 400 percent of the federal 
poverty level.
  The CHAMP Act is nothing more than a veiled effort to develop a 
single-payer healthcare system. In order to pay for this gross 
expansion of socialized medicine, this proposal would cut Medicare 
funds for 9,746 seniors who live in the Fourth Congressional District 
of Florida and are currently enrolled in the Medicare Advantage 
Program. I believe that my constituents would be unsupportive of any 
measure that compromises healthcare to the elderly in an attempt to 
give free healthcare to middle-class children and adults who were 
already covered by private health insurance plans. Finally, the funding 
mechanism for this expansion incorporates an increase in the federal 
cigarette tax from 39 cents to 84 cents per pack and increases taxes on 
many other forms of tobacco products.
  In the Fourth Congressional District of Florida, 27,416 families, or 
31 percent of all families with children under the age of 18, are 
already eligible for either Medicaid or SCHIP under current law. 
Despite this fact, the Medicare cuts to seniors are exacerbated by the 
fact that the CHAMP Act would cover individuals up to the age of 25. 
Once again, the very nature of the program, which is intended to 
provide medical care to children, is compromised by the expansion plan 
to cover young adults as well.
  In addition to all the concerns I mentioned above, I was unable to 
support this legislation due to several additional concerns I had 
during the consideration of this legislation. First of all this bill 
was clouded in secrecy until hours

[[Page E1947]]

before the House of Representatives voted on the bill. Additionally, 
the proposal authorizes a one-month waiting period for a motorized 
scooter even if a doctor determined the scooter was medically 
necessary, and reduces the amount of time that the government would 
rent oxygen equipment to seniors from 36 months to only 13 months. 
Finally, the CHAMP Act, in its current form, provides free healthcare 
to illegal immigrants. This complete disregard for existing law will 
inevitably aggravate the existing illegal immigration problem.
  This legislation was an erratic attempt to re-authorize the State 
Children's Health Insurance program while creating an open-ended 
entitlement program that moves us further away from providing benefits 
to those most in need.

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