Take a Stand for Children
and Co-sponsor the
All Healthy Children Act of 2007

Dear Colleague:

Nine million children under the age of 19 in the United States have no health insurance.  Every 46 seconds, another child is born uninsured in America.  Almost 90% of these children live in households with working parents and more than half live in two-parent households.  Many of these children are eligible for coverage under Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but are not enrolled due in large part to eligibility requirements and enrollment barriers that make it difficult to obtain or keep coverage.  Millions more children are underinsured or are at risk of losing coverage if their parents change jobs or more employers drop family coverage.  

HR 1688, the “All Healthy Children Act” is a logical, smart and achievable incremental next step to close the child coverage gap and guarantee all children access to the health coverage they need to survive, thrive and learn.  This proposal would blend and expand existing children’s health insurance programs to make sure that all children, regardless of the state in which they live, have access to affordable, quality, comprehensive health coverage with simple enrollment rules. 

Consolidation and Strengthening of Children’s Health Coverage.   Currently, two different programs cover uninsured children—Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  Medicaid guarantees comprehensive coverage to over 25 million children.  SCHIP is a state block grant that provides coverage to 5 million children with benefits which vary by state and is not guaranteed.  The “All Healthy Children Act” would consolidate the children’s portion of Medicaid (Title XIX of the Social Security Act ) and the SCHIP program (Title XXI of the Social Security Act) to create one new streamlined children’s health insurance program building on the best successes and features of both.  All eligible children would be guaranteed coverage and comprehensive benefits in the new program.

HR 1688 would NOT eliminate SCHIP and Medicaid.  HR 1688 would EXPAND the coverage of BOTH programs to ensure that ALL children are covered.

I have attached a section-by-section analysis of the bill and summary for your review. Should you have any questions or wish to sign-on as a co-sponsor, please contact Randi Estes-Petty at 202-225-8351 or by email at randi.estes-petty@mail.house.gov.

Very truly yours,

S/

Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
Member of Congress