WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) together with her colleagues Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, and Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA), announced the introduction of their bill to protect children’s access to critical health care. Their legislation, H.R. 3555, would stop the Bush Administration’s new policy to prevent States from providing quality health coverage to children in need under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

The bill would prohibit the implementation of an August 17th directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) outlining several strict guidelines for states that provide SCHIP eligibility to children above 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). One of the most troubling provisions of the new policy is the guideline that prevents states from providing access to insurance through SCHIP to any newly eligible children for at least one year. Another disturbing provision requires states to assure that 95 percent of the children in the state below 200 percent of FPL are enrolled in the program before reaching out to children above that level. To date there is not one state that meets this rigid restriction.

“This important legislation is necessary to stop the Bush Administration’s plan to cut children’s health care coverage,” said Capps, a nurse and Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee. “Throughout the Central and South Coasts, and across the country, thousands of children are being threatened with the loss of their healthcare coverage by President Bush’s bureaucratic gamesmanship. His recent decision to play petty partisan politics with our children’s health and wellbeing is as disappointing as it is irresponsible. Denying vital health care to some of the most vulnerable in our society – kids and pregnant women – is such a bad idea that even fellow Republicans are condemning his actions and urging him to reconsider. My colleagues and I aren’t holding our breath that he’ll rescind this policy voluntarily and that’s why we’re pushing for this legislation. It will force the President to do the right thing and allow States flexibility to cover as many children as they are able. In the coming weeks we’ll continue our fight to protect health care coverage for tens of thousands of needy kids on the Central and South Coasts and ensure that the President stops picking on our children to score cheap political points.”