Dick Durbin: Durbin Pushes For Override Of Bush Veto On Children's Health Insurance Bill

October 5, 2007 -- (COLLINSVILLE, IL) – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on members of the House of Representatives to help override the President’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act. The bipartisan legislation, which reflects a House-Senate compromise but was vetoed by the President on Wednesday, would provide health care to more than 10 million low-income children, including 154,000 newly insured low-income children in Illinois.

The Senate passed the bill 67 to 29 with 18 Republican supporters (a veto-proof majority). In the House, the bill was approved 265 to 159, with support from 45 Republicans. But, there are not yet enough votes in the House to override the President’s veto.

“The President's proposal to add just $5 billion over the next 5 years isn't enough. At that level, hundreds of thousands of children will likely lose coverage. At that level, we start moving backward, pushing kids and families out of coverage and increasing the number of uninsured. We’ve seen a dramatic increase of uninsured children in this nation for the first time since 1998. The number of uninsured children rose to 8.7 million in 2006, up from 8 million in 2005--a 9-percent increase in 1 year,” said Durbin.

“I believe a strong America begins at home. And it begins with health care -- to bring peace of mind to parents who otherwise worry that tomorrow that earache may turn into something worse. These are kids who need basic health protection and do not have it today. They are not the poorest of the poor. Those kids already have help from our government. These kids are the children of working families, families who, unfortunately, have no health insurance at their workplace,” said Durbin. “These families deserve the security that comes with knowing your children have health care.”

Durbin noted that the amount of money the U.S. spends every day in Iraq could be used to cover 246,000 kids and the amount spent over 41 days in Iraq could cover 10 million kids.

SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. This bill will give states the resources and incentives necessary to reach millions of uninsured children who are currently eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP.

Specifically, this bipartisan bill:

- Invests $35 billion in new funding for SCHIP. The bill reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program, investing an additional $35 billion over five years to strengthen SCHIP’s financing; increase health care coverage for low-income, uninsured children; and improve the quality of health care children receive.

- Ensures health care coverage for more than 10 million American children. First, the bill ensures that the 6.6 million children who currently participate in SCHIP continue to receive health care coverage. It also extends coverage to 3.8 million children who are currently uninsured, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

- Improves CHIP benefits -- ensuring dental coverage and mental health parity. Under the bill, quality dental coverage will now be provided to all children enrolled in SCHIP. The bill also ensures that states will offer mental health services on par with medical and surgical benefits covered under SCHIP.

- Improves outreach tools to streamline enrollment of eligible children. The bill provides $100 million in grants for new outreach activities to states, local governments, schools, community-based organizations, safety-net providers and others.

- Improves the quality of health care for low-income children. The bill establishes a new quality child health initiative to develop and implement quality measures and improve state reporting of quality data.

The SCHIP bill passed by Congress has been endorsed by more than 270 organizations, representing millions of Americans – ranging from groups such as the American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans to Families USA, the consumer advocacy group.

Source: Senator Dick Durbin

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