House Takes Strong Vote to Cover Children

Today, the House passed the CHAMP Act (Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act), which will reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The following is the statement of Kathleen Stoll, Director of Health Policy at Families USA:

“We commend the positive vote in the House that would reauthorize and expand the critically important SCHIP program. The bill provides the necessary funding to cover 5 million children who would otherwise be uninsured. This is an enormous victory for children.

“This bill is designed to help low-income working families. It will ensure that every child currently enrolled in the program will maintain their coverage, plus it will reach the millions of children who are currently eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP and Medicaid.

“In addition, by strengthening Medicare, seniors and people with disabilities will also benefit. The bill phases out Medicare’s overpayments to private insurance companies, which will improve Medicare’s fiscal health and make funds available to help vulnerable populations. The bill simplifies and expands existing programs that help low-income Medicare beneficiaries pay for their Medicare premiums and prescription drugs.

“This is a strong bill that the majority of the American public supports, and it is an excellent step toward increasing health coverage for children. We urge the Senate to follow the House’s lead by passing the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 this week. We hope that the final conference bill reauthorizing SCHIP will reflect the good policies in the CHAMP Act. With more than 9 million uninsured children in this country, it is long past time to act.” 

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org