[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 76 (Thursday, May 8, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E878-E879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         COVERING THE UNINSURED

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 8, 2008

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss the 
issue of the uninsured in recognition of National Uninsured Week in our 
country.
  In recent years the cost of health care has grown wildly. Those who 
can afford private or employer-based health insurance are fortunate. 
Unfortunately, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, including 
nine million children--and in Texas one out of every four individuals 
is without health insurance.
  We need a national health care plan, but until we make it a national 
priority, Congress will continue to make incremental steps.
  That's why Congress has worked so hard to include more children under 
the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and I have 
introduced the Health Centers Renewal Act (H.R. 1343), the Community 
Mental Health Services Act (H.R. 5167) and the Ending the Medicare 
Disability Waiting Period Act (H.R. 154).
  Ten years ago Congress created the SCHIP to help provide health 
insurance for children of low-income workers. These are hard-working 
families whose jobs don't offer employer-sponsored health insurance, or 
whose dependant coverage for children is unaffordable.
  Nationwide there are approximately 9 million uninsured children. 
Alarmingly, more than 1.5 million of those children live in Texas. Our 
state had significant barriers against the enrollment of new children 
in SCHIP, and even has policies that have kicked kids out of the 
program.
  As a result, Texas SCHIP enrollment has dropped from about half a 
million in 2003 to 350,000 in 2007. While children are unceremoniously 
removed from SCHIP, the number of uninsured continues to grow in our 
state.
  There are about 1.5 million Texas children in households earning less 
than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and 750,000 to 850,000 of 
them are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP coverage. Three fourths are not 
enrolled in either program, meaning there are 200,000 to 300,000 kids 
in Texas who are eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP.
  Tragically, the state doesn't even use the all the funds the federal 
government has provided for our children who are going without basic 
care. Eventually the money--more than $850 million in the last seven 
years--goes to other states or back to the Federal government.
  Bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress have supported an 
expansion of SCHIP that would help solve some of Texas's problems twice 
over the last year. Sadly, President Bush vetoed our efforts both 
times, but we will not give up until our children have the health care 
they need.

  In the meantime, we have opened other fronts in the battle to improve 
the quality of health care in our country. The Health Centers Renewal 
Act was introduced last year and approved by the Subcommittee on Health 
on April 23, and will go to the full committee soon.
  Health centers represent our Nation's largest primary health care 
system and serve as

[[Page E879]]

a medical home to more than 15 million Americans, most of whom are 
uninsured or have low incomes.
  By providing people who are medically underserved with primary and 
preventive health care, the health centers reduce the need for 
expensive specialty care in hospitals and emergency rooms. The Health 
Centers Renewal Act will allow health centers to nearly double the 
number of individuals they can serve.
  The Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act, which was 
introduced in January, will improve medical care for often-neglected 
mental health patients. Community mental health organizations serve 
more than six million adults and children across the country.
  Many of these people are Medicaid beneficiaries, children in foster 
care, the destitute, homeless and uninsured. Unfortunately, community 
mental health centers have been chronically underfunded for many years 
and struggle to meet the basic health needs of the people they serve.
  This bill will allow mental health care providers to recruit medical 
primary care doctors to care for patients with serious mental illness. 
Patients with mental illnesses die on average 25 years earlier than the 
average American, demonstrating the criticality of the need for better 
health care.
  The Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act was introduced 
last year would close a loophole that allows more than a million people 
with disabilities to go without medical care for extended periods of 
time.
  When Medicare expanded in 1972 to include individuals with 
significant disabilities, Congress stipulated that they had to first 
receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for two years 
before becoming eligible for Medicare, resulting in a three step 
process.
  First, the Social Security Administration has to determine SSDI 
approval. Second, an individual has to wait five months before 
receiving SSDI benefits. Third, after receiving SSDI benefits an 
individual has to wait two more years before they can receive Medicare 
coverage.
  More than 26 percent of individuals with significant disabilities 
have no health insurance during this two-year wait. Before becoming 
disabled, most of these people worked full time and paid into Medicare 
like everyone else.
  Now, when they need help the most, they are required to wait without 
coverage. This bill would phase out the two-year wait over 10 years and 
completely eliminate the waiting period for people with life-
threatening conditions.
  Finally, I strongly support restoring funding for the Healthy 
Community Access Program, which in my community has helped enroll an 
additional 250,000 individuals in Medicaid and CHIP, while also 
directing the uninsured away from the ERs and toward an appropriate 
health care home.
  To address this issue, I introduced the Community Coalitions for 
Access and Quality Improvement Act, H.R. 3561. This legislation would 
provide grants to community health access coalitions to implement best 
practices proven to reduce health care costs, achieve better health 
outcomes and improve access to health care for uninsured and low-income 
Americans.
  Congress should enact legislation to provide all Americans with 
health insurance. Ideally, no child, no disabled worker, and no 
uninsured woman would suffer from a lack of adequate health care. As we 
work toward that goal, Congress should take every opportunity to put in 
place policies that provide as many people as possible with quality, 
affordable health insurance.

                          ____________________