[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 2 (Monday, January 15, 2001)]
[Pages 22-23]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
The President's Radio Address
January 6, 2001
Good morning. I want to start off with some good news. For the first
time in a dozen years, the number of Americans who lack health insurance
is declining. One of the main reasons is that more and more uninsured
children from low and moderate income working families are now getting
health coverage through a program called CHIP, the Children's Health
Insurance Program. It was a part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
Today I want to announce some more good news about CHIP and discuss
new actions I'm taking to strengthen the program. In just 12 months the
number of children served by the Children's Health Insurance Program has
grown by 70 percent. Today, more than 3.3 million children have health
insurance under CHIP. That's making a real difference in their health
and in costs to the health care system. We know that when uninsured
children get health coverage, they go to the doctor's office more often
and to the emergency room less often, and they're less likely to be
hospitalized for conditions that could have been treated earlier and
less expensively outside a hospital.
The success of CHIP is particularly impressive when you consider
that the program has only been up and running for 3 years. It's a
testament to the diligent efforts of the Federal, State, and local
officials who run the program and to the love that parents have for
their children.
Yet, there are still millions of children who are eligible for CHIP
but aren't signed up, and millions of others who are eligible for health
coverage under Medicaid but aren't getting it there, either. In most of
these cases, parents just don't know about the benefits or mistakenly
think their children aren't eligible. Also, in some States the
application process is simply too daunting. As a nation, we must do more
to reach out to these families so that their children will get health
care coverage, too. I'm pleased to announce new rules that will make it
easier to do that.
First, since our goal is to enroll more children, we have to go
where the children are; that's the schools. Sixty percent of uninsured
children nationwide are enrolled in school lunch programs. Under the new
rules I'm announcing today, States will be able to use school lunch
enrollment data in order to contact families who may be eligible for
assistance with health insurance.
Second, under these new rules parents will now be able to enroll
their children in CHIP or Medicaid the moment they fill out an
application at child care centers, school nurse offices, and other
convenient places. No longer will they have to wait weeks or even
months, while their applications are being processed, before they can
get health care for their children.
Third, these new rules will make it possible for more employers to
provide health coverage to the children of their low wage employees,
with much of the cost picked up by CHIP.
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With 3.3 million children now enrolled in CHIP, we're getting closer
than ever to the goal I set 4 years ago of providing 5 million uninsured
children with health coverage. With the new rules I've announced today,
we've now done all we can at the Federal level to help meet that goal.
It's now up to the States to do their part and to the parents, too.
So if you have a child without health insurance, call this toll-free
number: 1-877-KIDS-NOW. That's 1-877-KIDS-NOW, for more information. If
we all work together, we can make certain that our children get the
health care they need to make the most of their lives in this wondrous
new century.
Thanks for listening.
Note: The address was recorded at 11:44 a.m. on January 5 in the Oval
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 6. The
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
January 5 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.