Letter to President Bush Asking that He Restore Immigrant Medicaid and SCHIP Benefits

February 14, 2001

Dear President Bush:

The undersigned organizations urge you to include provisions in your budget to restore Medicaid and SCHIP benefits, at state option, for lawfully present immigrant pregnant women and children in your FY2002 budget. This proposal has strong bipartisan support at the state and federal levels, and was championed in the last Congress by Sens. Chafee (R-RI) and Graham (D-FL) and Reps. Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Waxman (D-CA).

We believe that states should have the option to provide health coverage to lawfully present children and pregnant women who arrived after August 22, 1996, under the Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). This a critical step in reaching our shared national goal of providing health care to children who are currently uninsured, and would also ensure that states with high numbers of immigrants are not unduly penalized by the lack of federal reimbursement available for this population.

We believe it is a mistake to deny states the ability to provide Medicaid or CHIP to legal immigrant children because of their date of entry. Tragically, such a policy will inevitably mean that some children develop health complications that could have been prevented. In addition to causing needless suffering, the long term effects of inadequate health care services can prevent children from making a full economic contribution as they grow into adulthood. Similarly, we believe it is arbitrary to deny needed prenatal care to lawfully present pregnant women simply because they arrived after a certain date. From an economic and health perspective, the benefits of investing in prenatal care are well established.

For all of these reasons, we urge you to include restoration of Medicaid and SCHIP benefits for legal immigrant pregnant women and children in your budget. We look forward to working with you to accomplish this important goal.

Sincerely,

Alliance for Children and Families
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Nurse-Midwives
American Dental Hygienists' Association
American Public Health Association
Catholic Charities USA
Children's Defense Fund
Council of Women's and Infants' Specialty Hospitals
Families USA
Family Voices
Greater New York Hospital Association
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Lutheran Services in America