The CHIP Saga Continues...
December 21 - After two presidential vetoes and days before the program was scheduled to run out, Congress extended the CHIP program until March 2009. This time, the President plans to sign the bill. The legislation includes just enough money to sustain the program at its current level and keep the approximately 6 million children in CHIP from losing their health coverage. Unfortunately, there is no funding to cover uninsured children who are eligible for the program but not enrolled.
The extension was contained in a large health care bill called the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007. Taken as a whole, this bill is both a disappointment and a promise for more health care action next year. For example, the bill does not address the Administration's harmful directive to limit CHIP eligibility to families who make less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Overturning this wrong-headed policy will be a top goal in 2008.
There is some good news in the bill: It does not contain harmful CHIP policy changes that opponents of the program wanted. This means that states that have covered low-income, uninsured adults using CHIP funds can still do so. And the onerous citizenship documentation requirement in Medicaid was kept out of CHIP. The bill also temporarily blocks bad Medicaid regulations that deny rehabilitative and school-based services for low-income people who depend on them.
Still, we didn't get nearly as far as we could have. Congress twice passed a bill—with strong bipartisan support—to cover 10 million low-income children. The President vetoed it twice.
The vote to overturn the President's second veto is scheduled to take place in the House of Representatives on January 23. If the vote fails, this extension will stay in place. This vote is a great opportunity to make sure our Representatives hear from their constituents!
The opportunity to cover more kids is not lost, but it has been delayed by this President and his allies in Congress. In the meantime, millions of uninsured children will remain uninsured.
Next year, we will need your help to make sure the decision by the President and his friends to deny health coverage for millions of low-income American children comes up over and over again.
Click here for what's happened previously, including highlights of the revised bill.
For the full text of the bill, click here, and Families USA has also updated our quick summary side-by-side.
Talking Points on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007
This bill represents a historic, bipartisan compromise to reach out to the growing number of low-income, uninsured children in this country and ensure that they get access to the healthy start they deserve. The compromise bill is substantively similar to the bill the Senate passed last month with a broad, veto-proof majority.
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Adds $35 billion to the program over the next five years to cover approximately 10 million children: 6.6 million children who are currently enrolled and 4 million children who will be uninsured without this bill. The majority of the new children the bill will cover are eligible for coverage today; the bill does not dramatically expand coverage.
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Better allocates funding to states to cover uninsured children and helps avoid funding shortfalls that prevent children from receiving coverage.
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Gives states new tools to conduct outreach to enroll eligible uninsured children.
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Strengthens the CHIP benefit package by guaranteeing dental health and mental health benefits.
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For more highlights of the compromise bill and how it compares to the original Senate and House bills, see Families USA's
side-by-side.
How many children in your state could gain coverage under the compromise bill? Click here to find out. These numbers are based on a recent Families USA report, Kids Waiting for Coverage: How Many Are in Your State?, that compares the House and Senate CHIP reauthorization bills. Tell Congress and the President to support a strong CHIP bill and make sure uninsured kids get the coverage they deserve.
More information . . .
- CMS CHIP Crowd-Out Directive: Information about these harmful new requirements and the effort to get them rescinded.
- SCHIP on the Hill: Letters, testimony, and more.
- Deficit Reduction Act (DRA): Information on the legislation that made some of the most drastic changes to Medicaid in the program's history. Learn what the changes are, who they affect, strategies to minimize the damage, and current issues in implementation at the federal level.
- Citizenship Documentation
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Medicaid Commission: Includes Families USA’s reactions to the commission’s first report and keeps track of the commission’s progress toward final recommendations in December.
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More Resources from Families USA
The CHAMP Act's Medicare Provisions Offer Real Help to Seniors and People with Disabilities discusses how this bill, passed by the House of Representatives on August 1, would level the playing field between traditional Medicare and private Medicare Advantage plans, improve benefits for beneficiaries, particularly for those with low incomes, and protect Medicare consumers. (September 2007)
Whose Advantage? Billions in Windfall Payments Go to Private Medicare Plans Medicare's private plans, now called Medicare Advantage plans, were supposed to save taxpayers money and provide better health care for beneficiaries. In reality, they are paid billions more than traditional Medicare while providing little, if anything, in the way of improved care. Reducing overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans could deliver a substantial share of the funds necessary to expand SCHIP. (June 2007)
SCHIP Reauthorization: What’s at Stake in the States? This series of 50 state-specific reports examines just how much money is at stake if SCHIP is reauthorized with $50 billion in new federal money, and the benefits this new money will bring in terms of increased business activity, jobs, and wages. (May 2007)
MA Windfall Payments: A Source of Help for Low-Income Children and Seniors? is a PowerPoint presentation that looks at overpayments to private Medicare Advantage plans. Are these extra payments needed to serve seniors from communities of color? Or could these federal dollars be put to better use—covering kids and helping low-income seniors? (May 2007)
When One Size Doesn’t Fit All: the Importance of State Flexibility in SCHIP Eligibility is a fact sheet that looks at how different costs of living in different parts of the country affect how far a dollar goes, and how this relates to state choices to set SCHIP eligibility limits higher than twice the poverty level. (April 2007)
Brush up on your SCHIP knowledge! The following briefs offer background on SCHIP—what it is, how it works with Medicaid to get kids covered, and why it is especially important for minority children.
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State Issues
Want to find out about the latest state to make changes to its Medicaid program due to the Deficit Reduction Act? Is there a state Medicaid waiver you’d like to know more about? Here’s where to find information about what’s going on with Medicaid at the state level.
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Waiver Tool Box: The Waiver Tool Box is designed to help advocates keep track of state Medicaid waivers. It features summaries of current or proposed waivers and other resources.
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Other State Information: Get the bigger picture of what’s going on in the states, including Medicaid issues, as well as other significant health care developments.
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