[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 9 (Thursday, January 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E94]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 14, 2009

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2, the 
Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. In 
2007, more than 8 million children were uninsured, and with the growing 
recession, this number will only grow. Passing this bill will ensure 
that 4 million of those children will receive CHIP, bringing the total 
number of children covered by CHIP to 11 million.
  Expanding health care coverage for our most vulnerable populations, 
including legal immigrant children and some pregnant women, is an 
obligation we cannot afford to ignore. Nearly 400,000 legal immigrant 
children come from families with incomes below 200 percent of the 
Federal poverty level and are ineligible for CHIP solely because they 
are recent immigrants. These families, uninsured and unable to purchase 
private health insurance on their own, are left to fend for themselves 
when they desperately need health care for their children. This is 
unacceptable, and with this legislation, we will reverse this shameful 
practice by providing States with the option of covering these 
deserving low-income families.
  The passage of this bill is a great start, but we must do better. 
While this bill extends coverage to an additional 4 million children, 
including legal immigrants, over 4 million children will still suffer 
without health care coverage. In addition, nearly 90 million people 
went without health coverage for all or part of 2006 and 2007, most of 
them in working families. These numbers are disgraceful. This Congress, 
I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that our 
children and their families have access to high quality, affordable 
healthcare as a basic human right, not as a luxury.

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