Issue Position: State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

Issue Position

Issue Position: State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

As a father of five, I was proud to support this essential and bipartisan legislation. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act reauthorizes the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). SCHIP is modeled after Pennsylvania 's own state children's health insurance program (CHIP), which has delivered tremendous results in our state. Started by Governor Casey, CHIP was designed to provide insurance coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for medical assistance, but who could not afford to purchase private insurance.

This legislation invests an additional $35 billion over five years to strengthen SCHIP's financing and increases health care coverage for low-income and uninsured children. This bill protects coverage for the 6 million children, including 12,000 from our district, already enrolled in the program and extends coverage to nearly 4 million other uninsured children. SCHIP allows states to cover children without health insurance, who do not qualify for Medicaid, by enrolling them in Medicaid, creating new state programs, or by devising a combination of both.

This legislation enjoys significant bipartisan support and was backed by most health advocacy and insurance groups. Despite this, President Bush vetoed this vital legislation. An attempted override of the Presidential veto failed. This is unconscionable. The President's failure to sign this bipartisan and fiscally responsible legislation leaves millions of children without health insurance. I promise to continue this crucial fight. Children's healthcare must be a national priority.

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