[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22157]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 DEMOCRATS WANT TO ENSURE MILLIONS OF NEW CHILDREN RECEIVE THE HEALTH 
                           CARE THEY DESERVE

  (Ms. HOOLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HOOLEY. Madam Speaker, over the last 10 years, the Children's 
Health Insurance Program has been a success story, significantly 
reducing the number of children living without health insurance at a 
time when employer-sponsored insurance continues to erode.
  When CHIP was created in 1997, the number of uninsured children under 
the age of 19 was 23 percent. Over the last decade, that has fallen to 
15 percent. That is a great improvement, but still unacceptable.
  That is why Democrats will bring the Children's Health and Medicare 
Protection Act to the House floor today for a vote. The CHAMP Act 
invests in our children by ensuring that nearly every child eligible 
for the CHIP program is signed up and is receiving the essential 
preventative health care they need to live longer and healthier lives. 
If we do not take care of our children's health now, we will pay a lot 
more later on.
  Madam Speaker, with the passage of the CHAMP Act later today, this 
House will move us significantly closer to ensuring that every child in 
America has access to health insurance.

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