[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 155 (Monday, October 15, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11537-H11541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF BIPARTISAN CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE BILL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased once again to host the
Congressional Black Caucus message hour on Monday, the first hour of
the week.
In the past weeks we have talked about all kinds of issues affecting
the American people and have focused on issues particularly affecting
African American families. Once again, however, we are compelled to
this week focus in on the State Children's Health Insurance Program,
which the President chose to veto a couple weeks ago.
This week on the floor of the House we will again be debating SCHIP
and the President and our effort to override that veto. I am confident
that my colleagues will join me in overriding that veto because they
understand the importance of children in the United States having
health care.
I am joined this evening by several of my colleagues who will be
speaking on this very issue. And I also want to say on behalf of the
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who
appointed me to lead this message hour, I want to thank the American
public for listening in to our messages.
I am pleased at this time to yield to my colleague, my good friend,
and my sister from Oakland, California, Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the Chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick,
for her leadership and for her vision in making sure that really the
conscience of America is heard on these Monday nights. And also let me
thank Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones for her leadership and for
her vigilance and also, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee,
for her strong voice on behalf of our country's children.
I rise tonight in strong support for overriding the President's
misguided veto on the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Does the President want to relegate parents of sick children to
frantic calls to 911, late night visits to emergency rooms, and tragic
and preventable deaths due to undiagnosed illnesses? The Congress must
say no and override his veto Thursday so that our children have access
to regular checkups, preventative care, and a primary physician.
We must stand with the American people who overwhelmingly support
increasing access to children's health care. We must stand with nearly
every single health organization, every single children's organization
in America, like the American Medical Association, the American Academy
of Pediatrics, the Children's Defense Fund, Easter Seals, the March of
Dimes, and countless others who support their bill because they all
understand the devastating impact of being uninsured.
We must stand with the largest health insurance trade association in
the country, America's Health Insurance Plans, who praised expanding
the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a vital step in
ensuring the health security of millions of America's children.
Sadly, I believe, like many of us believe, that the President is
totally disconnected from the reality of our children's lives. He has
asked Congress for another $190 billion, $190 billion, to fund his
occupation of Iraq, while he has vetoed a fraction of that amount for
our children. This is a shortsighted assault on our Nation's children,
and we cannot stand for it.
[[Page H11538]]
This program is one of the most successful programs in the Nation,
and it should be reauthorized and it should be expanded.
When I was a State Senator in California, I helped write the
California State program called Healthy Families, and now Healthy
Families provides low-cost access to health care for over 800,000
children, more than any other State. The flexibility built into SCHIP
has allowed California to provide access to health, dental, and vision
coverage for children. And, also, let me just say that if this doesn't
get overridden, we don't know what is going to happen in California,
like in other States; so this needs to continue.
Comprehensive health coverage for children is also a very vital step
towards eliminating the continuing health disparities that plague
minority populations, including 800,000 Asian Pacific Americans, 1.4
million African Americans, and 3.4 million Hispanics.
Providing health care coverage for our children is one of the most
cost-effective investments that America can make. Children are the
least costly to provide coverage for, and giving children access to
adequate primary health care will create a generation of healthier,
better educated and, in the end, more productive adults.
It's mind-boggling that President Bush vetoed a children's health
bill. It is a shame and disgrace that our children are not his
priority. So the House must stand with America's 10 million children
and vote ``yes'' to override his veto on Thursday. This is the right
thing to do. Voting to override the President's veto is the moral and
it is the ethical vote to cast. Our children deserve nothing less.
Let me thank my colleague again from Ohio, Congresswoman Stephanie
Tubbs Jones, for making sure that the voice of children are heard once
again on this floor.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I want to engage in a conversation with you just
for a moment, Congresswoman Lee.
The cost of providing health care to children is $3.50 per child.
Now, those of us who drink expensive coffee spend more than that on a
cup of coffee every day. And wouldn't it just make sense? With all due
respect to President Bush, but on this issue he is just totally
incorrect. And all the newspapers and organizations are saying just
that, that he is incorrect.
Ms. LEE. He is totally incorrect, first of all, and I think that
$3.50 example explains why he's incorrect.
It is about priorities, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones. It is about where
we put our tax dollars. Do we care about securing the future of our
country? Do we care about our children's future? And that is what this
is about. He has asked for $190 billion, as I said earlier, to continue
to fund this occupation in Iraq. Well, I would think that a pittance of
that money, when we know how much this would cost, would go to cover
our children. And our children deserve it.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the amazing thing is he is trying to
talk about this whole piece of being conservative, fiscally
conservative in the dollars he is expending, but this President has put
us in greater deficit than all the Presidents predating him. From
George Washington on up to Bill Clinton, he has spent more money. So
being fiscally conservative really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Ms. LEE. When the President took office, we had a surplus in our
country, and now we are in a deficit spending mode. And I will tell
you, it is mortgaging and making our children pay for the mistakes of
this administration. So we have to dig ourselves out of this. And I
think this is a first step to making sure that our children are healthy
enough to move forward to be able to take over and try to help figure
out how they can secure this country for America's families and
children.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee, for leadership in
this area but also in the whole HIV/AIDS area. You are a beacon of
light for the Congressional Black Caucus and for the Nation. So I thank
you for joining me this evening, and I hope you have a great evening.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, one thing that we all know is that
the Children's Health Insurance Program, the acronym which is SCHIP,
State Children's Health Insurance Program, has always been a bipartisan
piece of legislation. We have seen Governors from both parties across
this country in strong support of the bill. Senate Republicans and
Democrats have joined together on a veto-proof vote that the President
has ignored. In the House we have strong bipartisan support as well.
I am pleased at this time to yield to my colleague and good friend
from Brooklyn, New York, and I hate that we beat the Yankees, but my
good friend from New York, Yvette Clarke.
Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio
for her leadership and for being here to give guidance during this hour
for the CBC. And I want to thank our chairwoman, Ms. Carolyn
Kilpatrick, for seeing fit to add this particular perspective to the
conversation that we are having with our Nation around the Children's
Health Insurance Program in our States.
{time} 2000
And, Mr. Speaker, I'm elated to stand with my colleagues today to
once again voice my support, my wholehearted support for children's
health insurance coverage, also known as SCHIP.
Just over a week ago, the President vetoed bipartisan legislation
that would have provided 10 million American children health coverage
through SCHIP. Since the beginning of my tenure here, you know I'm a
freshman, in this 110th session, this is the second time the President
has vetoed important health care legislation with broad bipartisan
support; the other veto being an expansion of potentially life saving
stem cell research.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and duty to stand with my fellow
Democrats, telling this administration that this veto will not deter
nor distract us from protecting the health and well-being of our
children.
The people that I represent in central Brooklyn have spoken loud and
clear, and so has the rest of America. Republicans and Democrats alike
have expressed their dismay with the President's decision to veto this
bipartisan legislation. Additionally, the country overwhelmingly
supports the Children's Health Insurance Program. A recent Washington
Post-ABC News poll indicates that 72 percent of the country supports
the extension and reauthorization of the CHIP program. Governors of
both parties across the country support the bipartisan bill.
Now, following the veto, the fight for health insurance for 10
million low-income children moves back to this body where the hard work
of rebuilding and building consensus among both Democrats and
Republicans has already taken place. Now, the rubber-stamp Republicans
who have sided with the President and are standing between 10 million
low-income children and their health care must hear from the American
people. We will override the President's rejection of health coverage
for 10 million children, but the voices of the American people must be
heard by those in Washington.
SCHIP was created to provide health care coverage for children and
families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to
afford private insurance. It costs, as my colleague, Stephanie Tubbs
Jones, has already stated, less than $3 a day to cover a child through
the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Ensuring kids is also cost-effective for taxpayers, who pick up the
tab for indigent care in emergency rooms, the most expensive way to
care for a child's health, as well because a healthy child is more
likely to succeed in education and life.
Over the last 10 years, the children's health program has proven to
be popular and successful, with 6 million children now enrolled in the
program. The bipartisan children's health insurance bill has broad
bipartisan support. It's supported by 68 Senators, including 18
Republicans; it's supported by 43 Governors, including 16 Republicans;
it's supported by more than 270 organizations representing millions of
Americans; and it's supported by a strong majority of the American
people.
This bipartisan bill renews and improves the Children's Health
Insurance Program, providing health care coverage for 10 million
children, preserving coverage for 6 million children currently covered
by SCHIP, and extending coverage to nearly 4 million uninsured children
according to the nonpartisan CBO.
[[Page H11539]]
Ironically, this morning I had an opportunity, along with my
colleague, Nydia Velazquez, to attend a press conference hosted by the
Working Families Party, ACORN, SCIU and Mothers in Our Community to
reach out to a corporation in New York called KKR in midtown Manhattan.
This is an investment firm that owns Toys-R-Us and Dollar General.
These two toy retailers have already subjected America's families to
massive and unprecedented recalls of millions of poisonous lead toys
that have flooded the market. This is a great concern. If we don't get
a commitment for a code of conduct protecting our children from lead
poison, our holiday toy-buying season could mean putting the health of
millions of American children at risk.
This concern is compounded by this administration's reckless
disregard for our most vulnerable, our children. Just imagine the
confluence of two of these things happening at the same time. Right
now, parents and families, mothers are concerned about lead-tainted
toys. And at the same time, when we need health care coverage that can
identify lead poisoning, that can help to ameliorate some of those
concerns, because, on the one hand, our safety is not being protected
through the consumer protection, we need to have SCHIP in place.
Two-thirds of uninsured children are currently eligible for SCHIP or
Medicaid. This bill is simply designed to give States the resources and
incentives to enroll children who are eligible but not signed up for
SCHIP and Medicare.
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to be here to say that when we look at
communities of color, in particular, black communities across this
Nation, it has been this type of safety net health care that enables
our communities to grow from strength to strength. These are just those
American policies we need to give our families the boost they need so
that when children go to school with asthma, they can be treated, they
don't have to be out for days on end. When our children have hepatitis,
tuberculosis, when they have any type of communicable disease, these
diseases can be treated quickly before they reach the level of crisis
in the emergency room.
SCHIP gives us that tool to be able to make sure that Americans are
safe and secure, that their health and well-being is something that we
all value as part of the American fabric of who we are.
And so I want to thank you, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, for anchoring this
hour for the CBC. When we think about our communities and how critical
this legislation is, not only for our communities, but for all
Americans, this transcends race, ethnicity, gender. It's American
children. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share
this time with you.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. The people of Brooklyn need to know that this
congresswoman has come in here, put her running shoes, we call them
high-heeled sneakers, put those running shoes on and really has done a
fantastic job. We're so very proud of what she's doing, the leadership
she's showing; and I thank you for joining me for this message hour
this evening.
Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. SCHIP, one of the best ways to deliver health
care to America's children. SCHIP, one of the best ways and cost-
effective ways to deliver health care.
You know, I was stunned when I heard President Bush tell the people
of America, well, these children have health care already; all they
have to do is go to an emergency room. I don't know how many of you had
the opportunity, just very recently, to see the news show talking about
how the emergency rooms in this country are overladen and overburdened
by so many people coming into emergency rooms across the country.
In my efforts of obtaining earmarks over the past 4 years in my
congressional district, I have sought money for improving the emergency
rooms in several hospitals in my congressional district. I've been in
the emergency room. I've been there, and the pictures show it, where
there are people laying on gurneys in the hallways because there are
not enough private spaces for them to use. There are children, seniors,
people of all ages in these hospitals and using the emergency room as
their primary care. Emergency rooms were created just for that,
emergencies, not for the delivery of ongoing preventative care.
And the only way that we can make sure that our children are more
healthy, the only way that we can ensure that children who are being
educated, they have to be healthy in order to get a good lesson. That's
why we started Head Start and we started lunch programs and breakfast
programs at school so that children could go to school and they
wouldn't be hungry. So now that we're feeding them and they go to
school and they're not hungry, we ought to make sure they have health
care coverage so they go to school healthy.
And I don't know how many of you there are listening, but I know
you've heard the story where your granddaughter or your niece or your
nephew or your child goes to a day care facility for the first time and
they come home with all kinds of whooping cough or something, running
noses, and it's because a lot of young children come to day care
without having received any health care. It will make a real difference
in the lives of a lot of people if we provide health care to our
children, and particularly preventative health care.
The other reason it becomes so important is that an unhealthy child
is not going to be able to pay attention in school. An unhealthy child
who is not paying attention in school, is not doing well, is unlikely
to do well in junior high school, unlikely to do well in high school,
unlikely to make it to college. It may be the precursor to dropping out
for a number of children here in the United States of America. And that
is why this issue becomes so very important and vital to all of our
communities.
Let me just read to you some of the things that some of the national
newspapers have said about SCHIP. The Miami Herald said: ``Vote to
Override the Veto of Children's Health Bill.'' ``President Bush's veto
of the children's health insurance bill is like Imelda Marcos denying a
barefoot child a pair of shoes.'' That makes me laugh because I think
about all my girlfriends who have lots of shoes, and they're much like
Imelda Marcos. ``The President complains that expanding health care
coverage for low-income children will cost too much and lead to
socialized medicine. Neither assertion is true. Now it's up to Congress
to override this veto. We urge the Representatives who voted against
the bill, most of them Republican, to reconsider. Instead of supporting
the questionable priorities of a lame-duck President, they should vote
to improve the health prospects of low-income children.''
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said: ``Some People, All the Time.''
``Caring for and protecting children is among the highest values of
society, and one of its most crucial obligations. On Wednesday,
President Bush vetoed a bill to renew and extend the reach of a program
that provides health insurance to American children whose families
can't afford it or can't get it at any price. Congress now must stand
up for children's health and override the President's veto. Mr. Bush's
misleading rhetoric calls to mind the warning about gullibility made by
a very different Republican President, Abraham Lincoln. As Congress
prepares to override the President's veto, those who voted against the
SCHIP plan should take care to ensure that they're not fooled all the
time.''
The Philadelphia Inquirer: ``The SCHIP Veto: Children Last.'' ``There
was no convincing reason for President Bush to deliver on his long-
standing threat of veto for the SCHIP bill other than that he hoped to
score political points. Bush's stated reason for opposing the
congressionally approved $35 billion increase in the program was that
somehow it was a step towards socialized government-run medical
coverage benefiting low-income families. That doesn't square with the
facts, since most of the kids helped by the program are in working-
class households. And it doesn't jive with the widespread support for
SCHIP among the American public, not to mention the impressive number
of Republicans who backed the veto measure. So it's difficult to see
how the President's strategy on SCHIP puts any more children first.''
[[Page H11540]]
The Columbus Post-Dispatch: ``Veto Lament.'' ``President Bush's veto
yesterday of the expansion of SCHIP not only leaves millions of
children without health care coverage; it can leave many of Bush's
fellow Republicans exposed to political attacks in next year's
election. Bush said the expansion passed by Congress would cost too
much. At $35 billion over 5 years, it certainly is expensive, but this
investment in the health of America's children will pay big dividends.
Healthy children do better in school and in life. And those who get
well-child care in a doctor's office take some of the burden off the
Nation's crowded emergency rooms, saving on medical costs overall.
Congress' plan, which has the support of the public and backers from
both sides of the aisle, would add 4 million children to the rolls.''
The Seattle Post Intelligencer: ``Children's Health: Overturn the
Veto.''
It said: ``In vetoing a much-needed expansion of children's health
coverage, President Bush distorted the issues, put partisanship over
compassion, and defied the goodhearted will of the public.''
And finally, in terms of newspaper endorsements, Waterloo-Cedar Falls
Courier of Iowa: ``Bush Should Have Compromised on SCHIP Program.''
``President Bush's veto Wednesday of a bill that could have
dramatically expanded children's health insurance came as no surprise.
He had promised to do so even before a compromise was hammered out in
Congress. Bush's determination, in the face of bipartisan support for
the bill and with polls showing the bill is favored by nearly two-
thirds of Americans, is troubling.''
All of these newspapers have said pointblank that President Bush is
wrong on this issue, that President Bush should not use this as a
political partisan dagger, that he should move forward and allow the
children of America across the board to have access to health care
coverage.
{time} 2015
The other reason this bill becomes so very important is because a lot
of employers no longer are providing health care coverage for their
employees. A number of employees can't afford the health care coverage
that employers provide. So it is particularly important for these young
children to have access to well care, as well.
Let me tell you what Senator Charles Grassley, Republican, said,
``The President's understanding of our bill is wrong. I urge him is to
reconsider his veto message.'' Senator Orrin Hatch, another Republican,
said, ``We are talking about kids who basically don't have coverage. I
think the President had some pretty bad advice on this.'' I want to
echo that. I think whoever is advising President Bush on this issue is
doing a detriment to the President as well as a detriment to the people
of America. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, has said, ``I can't
believe the President would veto a program that benefits low-income
children.'' I couldn't believe it either, Senator Collins. He should
not have vetoed it. But he did. So our job, as Members of Congress, is
to override this veto on Thursday of this week.
Today, 50 million Americans have no health insurance. That includes
more than 8 million children. Eight out of the 10 uninsured Americans
either work or are in working families. Jesse Jackson, when he was
running for President, Rev. Jackson, used to use the term the ``working
poor.'' They get up every morning. They go to work. They work 40, 50
hours a week. They come home every evening. The kind of money that they
are receiving, even with the increase in minimum wage, still puts them
below or within 200, 250 percent of poverty. So not only do we have
poor people who are with no income or low income, we have working poor
who need health care coverage.
My colleague, Barbara Lee, spoke to earlier the whole issue of
disparity in health care. The studies say that an African American male
and a Caucasian male can have the same health care coverage but that
the delivery of that health care to the African American male is less
than the delivery to the Caucasian male. There are all kinds of
disparities in what is going on in health care in our Nation, and this
is one of the ways that we can level the playing field. We can get rid
of some of the disparities within our support of SCHIP.
Being uninsured means going without needed care. It means minor
illnesses become major ones because care is delayed. Tragically, it
also means that one significant medical expense can wipe out a family's
life savings. Right now, everybody is talking about the problem with
the mortgage industry, and one of the reasons there are a significant
number of foreclosures and bankruptcies is because there are families
who have had to pay for health care coverage, and as a result of being
required to pay for health care coverage, they are losing their houses.
That should not be happening. There are millions of working uninsured
Americans who go to bed every night worrying what will happen to them
and their families if a major illness or injury strikes.
In Ohio, my home State, there are currently 1,362,000 uninsured. It
is an increase of 18,000 people since 2003. We have also seen this
drain on many of the local hospitals in my district when people are
forced to use emergency rooms. The problem is getting worse. As the
price of health care continues to rise, fewer individuals and families
can afford to pay for coverage. Fewer small businesses are able to
provide coverage for their employees, and those that do are struggling
to hold on to the coverage.
It is a problem that affects all of us. We cannot sit idly by while
the people of this country continue to go without health care coverage.
We must continue to push. And today is Monday. On Thursday, this House
will vote to override the veto of SCHIP. Those of you who are listening
across this country, if you have not contacted your Member of Congress,
if you have not contacted your Senator and said to them that they need
to vote to override this veto, I encourage you to fax, call, e-mail,
stop by the office, whatever you need to do so that we can advocate on
behalf of our people. This will be an opportunity this week for the
people of America to stand up and say to this President that health
care is a priority for us. But more importantly, health care coverage
for our children is our highest priority.
I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work on the Health
Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee. I wanted to get on that
committee because that is an opportunity for me to be engaged in long-
term policy development of health care in this country. In my
congressional district, the largest employers are the health care
industry. We have a large number of hospitals. I want to work to assure
the people of the 11th Congressional District that they are going to
have access to health care. I want to work to assure that people of
America, black, white, brown, yellow, that we are working in order to
make sure that they have health care coverage.
It has been a privilege to serve on the Health Subcommittee with my
good colleague, Pete Stark, from California and a privilege to serve on
the Ways and Means Committee under the leadership of Charles Rangel. I
have the privilege of leading this Special Order, this message on
behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and our leader Carolyn Cheeks
Kilpatrick. It is so very, very important that we continue, the
Congressional Black Caucus continues to lead on these issues. I am
pleased to have the opportunity to lead this message hour in and around
SCHIP this week.
Again, everyone needs to pay attention to this issue and pull out all
the stops and say to President Bush that we are going to override your
veto. We understand that you have chosen to go down the wrong path,
that you are reaching out to the wrong people and supporting the wrong
people. And you are overlooking the most important group of people in
our country, and that is our children.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my dear friend,
Ms. Tubbs Jones of Ohio, for organizing this special order on the very
important subject of SCHIP Reauthorization. I have very serious
concerns about the compromised SCHIP legislation that will come before
this House later this week. My major concern is that the version of the
legislation that will come before the House in response to the
President's veto will be even less expansive than the version the House
voted on previously.
This is extremely important because reauthorization of SCHIP is
crucial to closing the
[[Page H11541]]
racial and ethnic health disparities in this country. Narrowing health
care coverage of our children, as this newly agreed upon version does,
clearly falls far short of the goal that we had hoped for in our
efforts to decrease health disparities. It is crucial that this
Congress continue to bring awareness to the many health concerns facing
minority communities and to acknowledge that we need to find solutions
to address these concerns. My colleagues in the Congressional Black
Caucus and I understand the very difficult challenges facing us in the
form of huge health disparities among our community and other minority
communities. We will continue to seek solutions to those challenges.
Reauthorization of the SCHIP is crucial to realizing those solutions.
However, we must not compromise away the health of millions of children
who will under this new SCHIP version go without health care coverage.
It is imperative for us to improve the prospects for living long and
healthy lives and fostering an ethic of wellness in African-American
and other minority communities. I thank all of my CBC colleagues who
have been toiling in the vineyards for years developing effective
public policies and securing the resources needed to eradicate racial
and gender disparities in health and wellness.
We know that the lack of healthcare contributes greatly to the racial
and ethnic health disparities in this country, so we must provide our
children with the health insurance coverage to remain healthy. SCHIP,
established in 1997 to serve as the healthcare safety net for low-
income uninsured children, has decreased the number of uninsured low-
income children in the United States by more than one-third. The
reduction in the number of uninsured children is even more striking for
minority children.
In 2006, SCHIP provided insurance to 6.7 million children. Of these,
6.2 million were in families whose income was less than $33,200 a year
for a family of three. SCHIP works in conjunction with the Medicaid
safety net that serves the lowest income children and ones with
disabilities. Together, these programs provide necessary preventative,
primary and acute healthcare services to more than 30 million children.
Eighty-six percent of these children are in working families that are
unable to obtain or afford private health insurance. Meanwhile, health
care through SCHIP is cost effective: it costs a mere $3.34 a day or
$100 a month to cover a child under SCHIP, according to the
Congressional Budget Office. There are significant benefits of the
State Children's Health Insurance Program when looking at specific
populations served by this program.
Minority Children
SCHIP has had a dramatic effect in reducing the number of uninsured
minority children and providing them access to care:
Between 1996 and 2005, the percentage of low-income African American
and Hispanic children without insurance decreased substantially.
In 1998, roughly 30 percent of Latino children, 20 percent of African
American children, and 18 percent of Asian American and Pacific
Islander children were uninsured. After enactment, those numbers had
dropped by 2004 to about 12 percent, and 8 percent, respectively.
Half of all African American and Hispanic children are already
covered by SCHIP or Medicaid.
More than 80 percent of uninsured African American children and 70
percent of uninsured Hispanic children are eligible but not enrolled in
Medicaid and SCHIP, so reauthorizing and increasing support for SCHIP
will be crucial to insuring this population.
Prior to enrolling in SCHIP, African American and Hispanic children
were much less likely than non-Hispanic White children to have a usual
source of care. After they enrolled in SCHIP, these racial and ethnic
disparities largely disappeared. In addition, SCHIP eliminated racial
and ethnic disparities in unmet medical needs for African American and
Hispanic children, putting them on par with White children. SCHIP is
also important to children living in urban areas of the country. In
urban areas: One in four children has healthcare coverage through
SCHIP. More than half of all children whose family income is $32,180
received healthcare coverage through SCHIP.
Texas Children
The reauthorization of SCHIP is crucial for children in Texas. Texas
has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, and Houston/
Harris County the highest in the state. The SCHIP would go a long way
to provide coverage for the 585,500 children enrolled in Texas's CHIP
program; and to reach the 998,000 children in families with incomes
under the 200 percent Federal Poverty Level (FPL) who remain uninsured.
Almost 40 percent of young children in Houston lack immunizations
that help prevent deadly childhood illnesses like measles, mumps,
pneumococcal disease and whooping cough. I applaud the efforts of the
Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HHDHS), the Harris
County Public Health and Environmental Services (HCPHES), the Texas
Department of State Health Services (DSHS), Texas Children's Hospital,
the Rotary Club of Houston, and the national organization Every Child
By Two (ECBT) who have created a new partnership and campaign,
``Immunize On Time, Every Time'' to increase vaccination rates among
Houston's infants and toddlers. To sustain programs such as these, we
need to provide our children with the health insurance coverage they so
desperately need and deserve.
According to the Immunization Bureau, Houston Department of Health
and Human Services, Houston's childhood immunization rates are below
average for both Texas and the country, leaving our children--and our
wider community--vulnerable to potentially life-threatening illnesses.
In Texas, the SCHIP bill is the only hope for securing health care
and increasing the quality of all aspects of health care for our
children. Far too often in Texas, those who lack health care coverage
frequently delay seeking medical care until they are seriously ill.
That fact does nothing more than exacerbate the health care problem
because it leads to the overload of emergency rooms which are required
by law to treat them even if the patient has no ability to pay. Since
emergency care is far more expensive than a scheduled visit to a doctor
or clinic, hospitals end up with large costs that they, in turn, pass
on to insured patients using their overtaxed facilities. As a result,
insurance companies raise their rates even higher to cover the
increased payouts, making their policies too expensive for more working
families. The result is a health care system spiraling out of control
and more children left unprotected and in poor health. Reauthorization
of SCHIP would reverse this trend.
Children in Urban Areas
SCHIP is also important to children living in urban areas of the
country. In urban areas: One in four children has healthcare coverage
through SCHIP. More than half of all children whose family income is
$32,180 received healthcare coverage through SCHIP.
Children in Rural Communities
SCHIP is significantly important to children living in our country's
rural areas. In rural areas: One in three children has health care
coverage through SCHIP or more than half of all children whose family
income is under $32,180 received healthcare coverage through Medicaid
or SCHIP. Seventeen percent of children continue to be of the 50
counties with the highest rates of uninsured children, 44 are rural
counties, with many located in the most remote and isolated parts of
the country. Because the goal is to reduce the number of uninsured
children, reauthorizing and increasing support for SCHIP will be
crucial to helping the uninsured in these counties and reducing the 17
percent of uninsured.
Mr, Speaker, I would much rather have extended the deadline for
reauthorization of SCHIP, while we diligently and reasonably consider
the unsettled issues in this debate so that millions of the most
vulnerable population, including many African American and other
minority children can receive the health care coverage they need to
remain healthy and develop into productive citizens of this great
country. It is not as important to reauthorize an inferior bill under
pressure of fast-approaching deadlines, as it is to ensure that we
provide health care to those children who remain vulnerable to health
disparities. I urge my colleagues to join me in ensuring health care
coverage for millions of children and reducing health disparities among
the most vulnerable populations.
I will continue to fight vigorously to ensure that we provide health
coverage for millions of this nation's uninsured children. As leaders
of this great nation, we have no other choice. The health of our
children should not be compromised while we spend billions of dollars
in other countries in the name of ensuring the health and safety of our
international neighbors. While it is honorable to love thy neighbor as
thyself, charity must certainly begin at home.
There is no reason why this country should continue down a dreadfully
deleterious road of denying healthcare to any citizen of this country
who needs it. Many of the health conditions, such as diabetes, obesity,
kidney failure, cancer, hypertension and HIV/AIDS, the prevalence of
which plagues minority communities most, could be curtailed or even
prevented if everyone had access to health insurance. I will continue
to fight hard for the most effective policy measures that aim to narrow
the racial health disparity gap.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have been
granted this message hour, and I am very pleased to yield back my time
early so that the next Special Order can begin.
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