Much has been reported in recent weeks about SCHIP, a Washington acronym used to describe the State Children's Health Insurance Program. In plain speak, SCHIP is a government health insurance program created to help lower-income children. The program expires this year and requires the authorization of Congress to be extended.

 

Naturally, all of us in Congress want to help children. I support the SCHIP program and believe it should continue to provide a safety net for children whose families cannot afford health insurance. I have consistently supported the program in the past and was proud to vote for a resolution last week to extend funding for the rest of the fiscal year while Congress negotiates the terms of the program’s future viability.

 

Like most things political, the devil is in the details. Some of my colleagues argue that we should not only extend the program, but we should also drastically expand funding – by raising taxes - to extend benefits to families who can already afford care.

 

A modified bill (H.R. 976) was debated in the House of Representatives last week. Under this proposal, states would have a financial incentive over the next five years to enroll as many people as possible for SCHIP. While some of these participants will be children from lower-income families, many others will be from middle-class families, most who already have private health coverage. The bill also opens new loopholes for illegal immigrants to receive additional taxpayer-funded benefits. 

 

After five years, projected SCHIP spending will drop by 72 percent, forcing a future Congress to find the revenue to cover the massive budget shortfall or else let millions of children lose their health coverage.

 

The bill authorizes a 61-cent-per-pack increase in federal tobacco taxes to pay for proposed expansions Tobacco taxes fall hardest on the working poor, the very people SCHIP was originally designed to help.  

 

Supporters of this bill fail to recognize the importance that tobacco production has on many of our nation’s rural communities including many in the Kentucky’s Second Congressional District. If signed into law, this bill will eliminate jobs in the Commonwealth and make black market and counterfeit cigarettes more prevalent. 

 

I voted against this bill because Kentucky will lose under this proposal. Not only will Kentucky families shifted into SCHIP have to face unreliable future coverage, they will also pay more in increased taxes than the state will receive in program funding. In fact, the Commonwealth will lose an estimated $602 million over the five year reauthorization of the program.

 

While H.R. 976 ultimately passed, President Bush has promised to veto it and proponents in the House of Representatives lack the requisite number of votes to overturn a presidential veto.

 

Indeed, there is a better way. My colleague Congressman Joe Barton of Texas has introduced an alternative SCHIP reauthorization bill that will increase the programs' funding while keeping the focus on helping low-income children. The proposed extension includes an increase in funding, allowing states to continue enrolling children, ensuring that no child will suffer benefit cuts or jeopardy to their existing care. I support Rep. Barton’s proposal and look forward to its serious consideration by the entire House.

 

Children’s health care should be a bipartisan issue. Good policy is good politics. As the political posturing surrounding this issue draws to a close with a presidential veto, we must work together, for the millions of needy children across this country who depend on SCHIP, to produce a sensible solution that ensures the viability of this important program into the years ahead.