[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 41 (Monday, October 15, 2007)]
[Pages 1315-1316]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

October 6, 2007

    Good morning. One important commitment of the Federal Government is 
to help America's poorest children get access to health care. Most of 
these children are covered by Medicaid, which will spend more than $35 
billion to help them this fiscal year. For children who do not qualify 
for Medicaid but whose families are struggling, we have the State 
Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.
    Washington is now in the midst of an important debate over the 
future of this vital program. I strongly support SCHIP. My 
administration has added more than 2 million children to SCHIP since 
2001. And our 2008 budget increases SCHIP funding by 20 percent over 5 
years.
    Unfortunately, more than 500,000 poor children who are eligible for 
SCHIP coverage are not enrolled in the program. At the same time, many 
States are spending SCHIP funds on adults. In fact, based on their own 
projections for this fiscal year, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, 
Michigan, Rhode Island, and New Mexico will spend more SCHIP money on 
adults than they do on children. And that is not the purpose of the 
program.
    This week, congressional leaders sent me a deeply flawed bill that 
would move SCHIP even further from its original purpose. Here are some 
of the problems with Congress's plan. Under their plan, one out of every 
three children who moves onto Government coverage would drop private 
insurance. In other words, millions of children would move out of 
private health insurance and onto a Government program. Congress's plan 
would also transform a program for poor children into one that covers 
children in some households with incomes up to $83,000. Congress's plan 
would raise taxes on working people. And Congress's plan does not even 
fully fund all the new spending. If their plan becomes law, 5 years from 
now Congress would have to choose between throwing people off SCHIP or 
raising taxes a second time.
    Congress's SCHIP plan is an incremental step toward their goal of 
Government-run health care for every American. Government-run health 
care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes 
from the private market. It would cause huge increases in Government 
spending. It would result in rationing, inefficiency, and long waiting 
lines. It would replace the doctor-patient relationship with dependency 
on bureaucrats in Washington, DC. And it is the wrong direction for our 
country.
    Congress knew that I would veto this bill, yet they sent it anyway. 
So on Wednesday, I vetoed the SCHIP bill. And I asked Members of 
Congress to come together and work with me on a responsible bill that I 
can sign, so we can keep this important program serving America's poor 
children.
    When it comes to SCHIP, we should be guided by a clear principle: 
Put poor children first. I urge Republicans and Democrats in Congress to 
support a bill that moves adults off this children's program and covers 
children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but whose families are 
struggling. If putting poor children first takes a little more than the 
20 percent increase I have proposed in my budget for SCHIP, I am willing 
to work with leaders in Congress to find the additional money.
    Ultimately, our Nation's goal should be to move children who have no 
health insurance to private coverage, not to move children who already 
have private health insurance to Government coverage. By working 
together, Republicans and Democrats can strengthen SCHIP, ensure that it 
reaches the children who need it, and find ways to help more American 
families get the private health coverage they need.
    Thank you for listening.

[[Page 1316]]

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on October 5 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 6. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 5 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his 
address, the President referred to H.R. 976, the ``Children's Health 
Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007.'' The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.