Reauthorization of Children's Health Insurance Program
Floor Speech
REAUTHORIZATION OF CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM -- (Senate - September 25, 2007)
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a very important and very positive issue we are going to be addressing and sending to the President this week; that is, the reauthorization of the children's health care program. This is really a historic, bipartisan effort that has been put together, and it is something we have done together for all of our families and children across America.
We urgently need to pass this bill in its final form and send it to the President of the United States. I know the House of Representatives is doing that today, and it will then come to us. There is no question that it is one of the most important things we will do this year, not only guaranteeing that some 6 million children who currently receive this children's health care program will be able to continue to get health care, but we will be expanding upwards of another 4 million children who will be able to have the health care they need and deserve.
I wish to particularly thank leaders on the Finance Committee, including Senator Baucus, Senator Grassley, Senator Rockefeller, and Senator Hatch, for working together in such a wonderful way that has given us the opportunity in the Senate to come together, with the original vote on the bill being 68 Members of the Senate--68 Members of the Senate. In addition to that, we are so thrilled to have Senator Johnson back with us so that his vote will be added as well to this very important program.
I also thank our leader, Senator Harry Reid, for making this a top priority and for personally engaging in the negotiations that took place to be able to get us to the point where we have something on which we can move forward in the House and the Senate in a bipartisan way.
This really builds on the bipartisan spirit that created the whole program in 1997. I was in the U.S. House of Representatives representing mid-Michigan at the time and felt that as we put this program together then, it was an incredibly important statement of our values and our priorities. We are talking about working families, moms and dads who go to work every day to maybe one, two, or three jobs who are trying to hold things together and desperately want to make sure their children have the health care they need. That is what this legislation is all about. That is what this program is all about.
Among many good things that have been placed into this bipartisan legislation, I am very proud to say that it makes important improvements in dental care and in mental health care for children. It looks at quality issues and health information technology. I am very pleased that language which I authored concerning creating an electronic medical record for children, a pediatric electronic medical record, is in this legislation so that we can bring children's information together around immunizations and other kinds of health care needs in one place so we can more effectively have them treated and have doctors and hospitals knowing what, in fact, a child's medical record is. I am also very pleased about another piece of the legislation I worked on in relation to school-based health centers and the importance of recognizing them as part of a continuum of care for children.
This bill really does represent a very successful public sector and private sector partnership that helps our families and makes sure more children, children of working families, are able to get health care in this country. In my State of Michigan, a private insurer runs what we call the MIChild Program. Last year, nearly one-third of the children in Michigan relied on either Healthy Kids through Medicaid for low-income children or MIChild, which represents working families, for health care coverage. About three-quarters of the children have at least one working parent. I must say that oftentimes that is mom--mom trying to, again, work one job or two jobs or three jobs, desperately concerned about her children, needing to put food on the table, needing to buy them school clothes, needing to get them what they need to be able to survive and function every day, and knowing that when they desperately need to go to the dentist, they are able to get a dental checkup, or to be able to get basic kinds of health care.
I know too many people who tell me they go to bed at night saying: Please, God, don't let the kids get sick. This program in Michigan, MIChild, and this program which we are now coming together on a bipartisan basis to expand says to those parents: Somebody is hearing you; that we as a country and as a Congress care about the children of this country and making sure they have their health care needs met.
It is so important to stress that this is not a program for wealthy families, for rich kids. We have heard so much misinformation about what this program is all about. In Michigan, a family of four cannot make over $40,000 to qualify for MIChild. This is, again, a family of four. If there are two working parents, working just barely above poverty level, this allows them to be able to get the health insurance they need for their children.
The Saginaw-based Center for Civil Justice shared a story with me about a young mother named Christie whose husband was laid off and the family income dropped to less than $2,000 a month for a family of five--less than $24,000 a year for a family of five. Nearly half of that goes to rent and utilities, like most families. The children's health care program in Michigan, MIChild, has helped their three children, who are 4 years old, 3 years old, and 8 months. Thankfully, they have been able to--in Michigan, we have had a dental benefit, which is something we are going to provide through this bill. Without that, Christie's children would not have what they need.
Recently, one of the children needed to have their tonsils removed. I remember those days with my children. It would not have been able to be done--it could have turned into a much more serious situation for that child--if it was not for the children's health care program. It makes a difference in children's lives every day.
Another mom, Pam, is a full-time preschool teacher and mother. Her monthly premiums of $384 per month, or over $4,500 per year, would have taken up a fifth of her pay if she was trying to pay through a private individual plan.
But through MICild, she was able to get the specialized care she needed for her daughter, who suffers from a rare seizure disorder. She would not have been able to care for her daughter if it were not for the children's health care program.
Like Pam, most working families simply cannot afford traditional health insurance and make ends meet--to be able to pay rent, utilities, a mortgage payment, or purchase food and school clothes, and, on top of that, find an individual policy that is affordable in the private market. According to the Commonwealth Fund, nearly three-quarters of people living below 200 percent of the poverty line found it very difficult or impossible to find affordable coverage in the individual market. Premiums for individual market coverage for families with incomes between 100 percent of poverty and 199 percent of poverty--which is what we are talking about and what we have in Michigan--on average, one-quarter of the family's total income--25 percent--would be premiums for health care in the private market. Faced with these costs, many families just don't have the coverage because they cannot afford to do it and at the same time put food on the table. The situation is even worse for families with chronic conditions, such as asthma or juvenile diabetes. If they were able to purchase coverage in the individual market, costs would be much higher.
The children's health program, it is important to note, is not just for kids in cities, it is not just an urban program. This program helps all children regardless of where they live. In fact, according to the Carsey Institute, they found that there were more children in rural areas who were benefiting from the Children's Health Insurance Program than in urban areas--32 percent of rural children versus 26 percent of urban children. So this really is something that touches every single part of the country, every single part of our States, and families all throughout America who are working hard every day and counting on us to help them to be able to get the children's health care they need.
We are taking a huge step forward for our Nation's uninsured children, the vast majority of whom--78 percent--live in working families. Seventy-eight percent live in a home where mom and/or dad is working, but they are not making enough to be able to afford private premiums in the private individual market. Because the importance of the children's health care program is so critical for so many families, I urge my colleagues not to listen to inaccurate statements or negative attacks but to join together, as we have done, in a wonderful bipartisan effort in the Senate to send a very strong message to this President that we come together on behalf of the children and the working families of America to put our values and priorities in the right place. That is what we are talking about here. This is about choices, about values, about priorities.
This bill is totally in line with what President Bush proposed at the 2004 Republican Convention. He said at that time:
In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for Government health insurance programs. We will not allow a lack of attention, or information, to stand between these children and the health care they need.
Well, Mr. President, this bipartisan compromise, this bipartisan victory which has been put together in the Congress is an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children into a successful public-private partnership. This bill before us is a chance to make a real difference in the lives of millions of children--millions of children who, without us and the children's health care program, will not have that chance.
We need to do the right thing. Every day, as we wait, children are growing; they don't wait for us. They keep on growing whether we are debating, whether we are in committee meetings. Regardless of what we are doing, the children of America keep on growing. They keep on having needs--dental or broad health care needs or mental health needs. It is time to do the right thing. We have it within our grasp. A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into this. Let's remember the bipartisan spirit that created this great program in 1997. Let's remember that the Children's Health Insurance Program is truly a great American success story for which we can all take credit. We can join together in taking credit for it.
Let's pass this bill and, most importantly, let's together urge the President of the United States to do the right thing on behalf of the children of America.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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