[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H13864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                  SCHIP AND CITIZENSHIP DOCUMENTATION

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, today I rise to urge my colleagues to 
support a strong reauthorization of the SCHIP program that prevents 
additional loss of health care access to U.S. citizen children.
  Medicaid citizenship documentation created by the Deficit Reduction 
Act has caused citizen children to lose access to health care. Low-
income white and black U.S. citizen children, not Latino citizens, are 
disproportionately affected. Documentation requirements are extremely 
burdensome to low-income families who often lack the resources to pay 
for that documentation.
  In Alabama, Kansas and Virginia, Medicaid enrollment declined by a 
larger percentage among white and black children than among Latino 
children who were U.S. citizens.
  The Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services 
and the past administrator of CMS concurred that there is no 
substantial evidence that undocumented immigrants are committing fraud 
in order to receive Medicaid.
  Citizenship documentation, as implemented, is a flawed policy based 
on inaccurate assumptions that adversely affect our children's health.
  I urge my colleagues to allow that we enforce a good SCHIP program. 
Take care of those 10 million children.

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