[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.