[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 199 (Wednesday, December 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7881-S7882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CHIP AND COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I am coming to the floor again to focus 
on the fact that the clock is ticking for families in Michigan and 
across the country--men and women, children, older people, younger 
people who use the community health centers, as well as those who have 
their children covered under the Children's Health Insurance Program. 
The Federal funding for those programs stopped September 30--67 days 
ago. We have had votes. We have had bills. We have had nominations come 
before us. There have been divisiveness and controversy. It would be 
wonderful if we could stop for 1 day and do something that has 
bipartisan support.
  The fact is that CHIP covers 9 million children, and 100,000 of those 
are in Michigan. We passed a bill out of the Finance Committee in 
September. I want to laud our chairman, Senator Hatch, and our ranking 
member, Senator Wyden. It was a bipartisan bill. There was only one 
``no'' vote. We reported it out. I assumed we would want to get this 
done before September 30, when the funding ran out.
  Instead, here we wait, 67 days later. There are 9 million children at 
risk because of this inaction--100,000 children in Michigan.
  The truth is that today, thanks to CHIP and thanks to a variety of 
healthcare efforts across the country, 97 percent of the children in 
our country have access to a doctor. In Michigan, it is actually 
higher; it is 97 percent of our children. So if a child has juvenile 
diabetes, if they have a cancer or asthma or just fall out of a tree 
and break their arm or have bronchitis or the flu, whatever it is that 
is happening to children, parents have the peace of mind under the 
MIChild Program to know that they can take their child to a doctor whom 
they have a relationship with and who knows their children, instead of 
going to the emergency room.
  We also know that emergency rooms are the most expensive way to 
provide care. They are necessary. They are important for emergencies 
but not for the daily routines of life, when someone could be seeing a 
doctor. It costs more; uncompensated care costs more, and when someone 
uses the emergency room when they could be seeing a doctor, then 
everyone else pays for that with their insurance rates going up.
  So MIChild in Michigan and the Children's Health Insurance Program 
across the country work. They save money. They save lives. In fact, as 
soon as January, in Michigan, families are going to start to get 
notices that the funding will go away, that the medical care will go 
away. It is not a great way to start the new year: Merry Christmas. 
Happy New Year. Your child is not going to be able to go see their 
doctor anymore. We don't have to have that happen because we have 
strong bipartisan support for this.
  It is the same thing with community health centers. Twenty-five 
million people are able to see a doctor or a nurse and get the care 
they need through a community health center in their community. There 
are 300,000 veterans who are able to see a doctor through a community 
health center, and there are 7.5 million children as well.
  In Michigan, our health centers are all over the State. We have some 
260 different clinics around Michigan that serve 681,000 people and, 
again, almost 13,000 veterans. Starting in January, they are going to 
begin to lose funding at different times--some in February, some in 
March, some in April--because of local funding streams. But starting in 
January, in Michigan, health centers are not going to have the funding 
they need. The majority of their funding--70 percent of their funding--
comes through the program that expired September 30, and we know that 
this also doesn't have to happen.
  My friend Senator Roy Blunt and I have put in legislation. We have a 
letter signed by 70 Members--not 7--70 Members of this body, over two-
thirds of this body signing a letter supporting the continuation of 
community health centers. Yet we can't get that brought up either.
  We thought the original plan was to bring up CHIP, the Children's 
Health Insurance Program, and include community health centers with it, 
and get that done before September 30. The clock is ticking every 
single day, and it has not been done. Folks may be trying to hold it 
hostage politically for some reason or trying to work on some deal at 
the end of the year. In the meantime, families are worrying, men and 
women are worrying, and veterans are worrying about what is going to 
happen, whether or not they are going to continue to get their 
healthcare.
  Let me go back to where I started. Today is 67 days, and tomorrow it 
will be 68 days since the funding for two healthcare programs that have 
had broad bipartisan support over the years and broad bipartisan 
support today--67 days since that funding has stopped.
  I would like to close with a story from a gentleman named Darin, 
whose life was changed by one of Michigan's community health centers. 
He shared his story with me.
  Darin was an unemployed truckdriver when he moved to Jackson, MI, 4 
years ago. He hadn't seen a doctor for a decade, and, in his words, he 
was ``a complete mess.'' He had diabetes, congestive heart failure, and 
he had no energy. He needed an oxygen tank to walk. He started seeing 
Dr. Roy at the Center for Family Health, which is a great health clinic 
in Jackson. He told her he didn't want to just be stable; he wanted to 
get better. So they went to work so that he could get back on his feet 
and get back to work.
  Darin got his diabetes under control. He improved his lung function, 
got rid of the oxygen tank, and quit his pain pills. Darin said:


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       I went from being . . . hardly able to move to where I feel 
     like I can do almost anything. Dr. Roy saw me at my lowest, 
     and she has seen me improve so much that she celebrates with 
     me. Dr. Roy kicked me in the seat of the pants, and I will 
     always thank her for it.

  Darin got his kick in the seat of the pants, and, Mr. President, with 
all due respect, I believe Members of this body could use one too.
  There are 25 million people who count on community health centers for 
their care--their children's care, the care of their moms and dads. 
There are 9 million children who are covered under the Children's 
Health Insurance Program. They have been waiting and worrying for long 
enough; 67 days is long enough. I am hopeful that there will be a sense 
of urgency from colleagues to get this done.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moran). The Senator from Utah.

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