[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 143 (Tuesday, September 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12017-S12018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         REAUTHORIZATION OF CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a very 
important and very positive issue we are going to be addressing and 
sending to the President this week; that is, the reauthorization of the 
children's health care program. This is really a historic, bipartisan 
effort that has been put together, and it is something we have done 
together for all of our families and children across America.
  We urgently need to pass this bill in its final form and send it to 
the President of the United States. I know the House of Representatives 
is doing that today, and it will then come to us. There is no question 
that it is one of the most important things we will do this year, not 
only guaranteeing that some 6 million children who currently receive 
this children's health care program will be able to continue to get 
health care, but we will be expanding upwards of another 4 million 
children who will be able to have the health care they need and 
deserve.
  I wish to particularly thank leaders on the Finance Committee, 
including Senator Baucus, Senator Grassley, Senator Rockefeller, and 
Senator Hatch, for working together in such a wonderful way that has 
given us the opportunity in the Senate to come together, with the 
original vote on the bill being 68 Members of the Senate--68 Members of 
the Senate. In addition to that, we are so thrilled to have Senator 
Johnson back with us so that his vote will be added as well to this 
very important program.
  I also thank our leader, Senator Harry Reid, for making this a top 
priority and for personally engaging in the negotiations that took 
place to be able to get us to the point where we have something on 
which we can move forward in the House and the Senate in a bipartisan 
way.
  This really builds on the bipartisan spirit that created the whole 
program in 1997. I was in the U.S. House of Representatives 
representing mid-Michigan at the time and felt that as we put this 
program together then, it was an incredibly important statement of our 
values and our priorities. We are talking about working families, moms 
and dads who go to work every day to maybe one, two, or three jobs who 
are trying to hold things together and desperately want to make sure 
their children have the health care they need. That is what this 
legislation is all about. That is what this program is all about.
  Among many good things that have been placed into this bipartisan 
legislation, I am very proud to say that it makes important 
improvements in dental care and in mental health care for children. It 
looks at quality issues and health information technology. I am very 
pleased that language which I authored concerning creating an 
electronic medical record for children, a pediatric electronic medical 
record, is in this legislation so that we can bring children's 
information together around immunizations and other kinds of health 
care needs in one place so we can more effectively have them treated 
and have doctors and hospitals knowing what, in fact, a child's medical 
record is. I am also very pleased about another piece of the 
legislation I worked on in relation to school-based health centers and 
the importance of recognizing them as part of a continuum of care for 
children.
  This bill really does represent a very successful public sector and 
private sector partnership that helps our families and makes sure more 
children, children of working families, are able to get health care in 
this country. In my State of Michigan, a private insurer runs what we 
call the MIChild Program. Last year, nearly one-third of the children 
in Michigan relied on either Healthy Kids through Medicaid for low-
income children or MIChild, which represents working families, for 
health care coverage. About three-quarters of the children have at 
least one working parent. I must say that oftentimes that is mom--mom 
trying to, again, work one job or two jobs or three jobs, desperately 
concerned about her children, needing to put food on the table, needing 
to buy them school clothes, needing to get them what they need to be 
able to survive and function every day, and knowing that when they 
desperately need to go to the dentist, they are able to get a dental 
checkup, or to be able to get basic kinds of health care.
  I know too many people who tell me they go to bed at night saying: 
Please, God, don't let the kids get sick. This program in Michigan, 
MIChild, and this program which we are now coming together on a 
bipartisan basis to expand says to those parents: Somebody is hearing 
you; that we as a country and as a Congress care about the children of 
this country and making sure they have their health care needs met.
  It is so important to stress that this is not a program for wealthy 
families, for rich kids. We have heard so much misinformation about 
what this program is all about. In Michigan, a family of four cannot 
make over $40,000 to qualify for MIChild. This is, again, a family of 
four. If there are two working parents, working just barely above 
poverty level, this allows them to be able to get the health insurance 
they need for their children.
  The Saginaw-based Center for Civil Justice shared a story with me 
about a young mother named Christie whose husband was laid off and the 
family income dropped to less than $2,000 a month for a family of 
five--less than $24,000 a year for a family of five. Nearly half of 
that goes to rent and utilities, like most families. The children's 
health care program in Michigan, MIChild, has helped their three 
children, who are 4 years old, 3 years old, and 8 months. Thankfully, 
they have been able to--in Michigan, we have had a dental benefit, 
which is something we are going to provide through this bill. Without 
that, Christie's children would not have what they need.

[[Page S12018]]

  Recently, one of the children needed to have their tonsils removed. I 
remember those days with my children. It would not have been able to be 
done--it could have turned into a much more serious situation for that 
child--if it was not for the children's health care program. It makes a 
difference in children's lives every day.
  Another mom, Pam, is a full-time preschool teacher and mother. Her 
monthly premiums of $384 per month, or over $4,500 per year, would have 
taken up a fifth of her pay if she was trying to pay through a private 
individual plan.
  But through MICild, she was able to get the specialized care she 
needed for her daughter, who suffers from a rare seizure disorder. She 
would not have been able to care for her daughter if it were not for 
the children's health care program.
  Like Pam, most working families simply cannot afford traditional 
health insurance and make ends meet--to be able to pay rent, utilities, 
a mortgage payment, or purchase food and school clothes, and, on top of 
that, find an individual policy that is affordable in the private 
market. According to the Commonwealth Fund, nearly three-quarters of 
people living below 200 percent of the poverty line found it very 
difficult or impossible to find affordable coverage in the individual 
market. Premiums for individual market coverage for families with 
incomes between 100 percent of poverty and 199 percent of poverty--
which is what we are talking about and what we have in Michigan--on 
average, one-quarter of the family's total income--25 percent--would be 
premiums for health care in the private market. Faced with these costs, 
many families just don't have the coverage because they cannot afford 
to do it and at the same time put food on the table. The situation is 
even worse for families with chronic conditions, such as asthma or 
juvenile diabetes. If they were able to purchase coverage in the 
individual market, costs would be much higher.
  The children's health program, it is important to note, is not just 
for kids in cities, it is not just an urban program. This program helps 
all children regardless of where they live. In fact, according to the 
Carsey Institute, they found that there were more children in rural 
areas who were benefiting from the Children's Health Insurance Program 
than in urban areas--32 percent of rural children versus 26 percent of 
urban children. So this really is something that touches every single 
part of the country, every single part of our States, and families all 
throughout America who are working hard every day and counting on us to 
help them to be able to get the children's health care they need.
  We are taking a huge step forward for our Nation's uninsured 
children, the vast majority of whom--78 percent--live in working 
families. Seventy-eight percent live in a home where mom and/or dad is 
working, but they are not making enough to be able to afford private 
premiums in the private individual market. Because the importance of 
the children's health care program is so critical for so many families, 
I urge my colleagues not to listen to inaccurate statements or negative 
attacks but to join together, as we have done, in a wonderful 
bipartisan effort in the Senate to send a very strong message to this 
President that we come together on behalf of the children and the 
working families of America to put our values and priorities in the 
right place. That is what we are talking about here. This is about 
choices, about values, about priorities.
  This bill is totally in line with what President Bush proposed at the 
2004 Republican Convention. He said at that time:

       In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll 
     millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up 
     for Government health insurance programs. We will not allow a 
     lack of attention, or information, to stand between these 
     children and the health care they need.

  Well, Mr. President, this bipartisan compromise, this bipartisan 
victory which has been put together in the Congress is an aggressive 
effort to enroll millions of poor children into a successful public-
private partnership. This bill before us is a chance to make a real 
difference in the lives of millions of children--millions of children 
who, without us and the children's health care program, will not have 
that chance.
  We need to do the right thing. Every day, as we wait, children are 
growing; they don't wait for us. They keep on growing whether we are 
debating, whether we are in committee meetings. Regardless of what we 
are doing, the children of America keep on growing. They keep on having 
needs--dental or broad health care needs or mental health needs. It is 
time to do the right thing. We have it within our grasp. A tremendous 
amount of hard work has gone into this. Let's remember the bipartisan 
spirit that created this great program in 1997. Let's remember that the 
Children's Health Insurance Program is truly a great American success 
story for which we can all take credit. We can join together in taking 
credit for it.
  Let's pass this bill and, most importantly, let's together urge the 
President of the United States to do the right thing on behalf of the 
children of America.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio is 
recognized.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Stabenow, my friend from 
Michigan, for the comments about children's health. She is right-on 
about that. Look at the choice. We are going to spend $2.5 billion a 
week in Iraq. Yet we are unwilling per year to spend $7 billion to 
insure 4 million additional children--some 75,000 in my State and 
50,000 or 60,000 in the State of Michigan next door. We are spending 
$2.5 billion a week in Iraq. Yet the President says he is going to say 
no and veto this bill on children's health.

                          ____________________