[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       THE MEDICAID AND CHIP SAFETY NET PRESERVATION ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, along with Representatives Brown, Waxman, 
and Capps, I am introducing the ``Medicaid and CHIP Safety Net 
Preservation Act of 2004.'' This bill seeks to reaffirm the protections 
in the Medicaid statute for beneficiaries who receive health coverage 
through Medicaid in a waiver program. The Medicaid program currently 
covers more than 50 million Americans of all backgrounds, from pregnant 
women and children, to the working disabled and elderly in nursing 
homes. Recent actions by the Administration have raised concerns that 
the core principles of the Medicaid program are being undermined by the 
inappropriate use of waiver authority by the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services.
  The Administration's Medicaid waiver initiative is an attempt to do 
behind closed doors what it has been able to do openly in Congress, 
which is to reduce protections in healthcare for some of our most 
vulnerable citizens. In less than four years the Bush Administration 
has eroded the health care safety net for millions of Americans, at a 
time when the faltering economy has produced record high unemployment 
and increased the number of Americans who are uninsured for health 
care.
  The ``Medicaid and CHIP Safety Net Preservation Act'' will ensure 
transparency and public input in the process for exercising the waiver 
authority under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. It also adds 
protections to ensure that waivers do not erode the core objectives of 
the Medicaid program and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) 
previously enacted by Congress.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation to 
assure that some of our most vulnerable citizens will receive higher, 
not lower, quality health insurance coverage under Medicaid.

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