Wilson announces Support for Child Health Bill
Albuquerque Rep. Says Bill is Big Win for New Mexico Kids, Seniors
Albuquerque, NM –
Congresswoman Heather Wilson today says she will vote for a bicameral
agreement to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
for an additional five years. Wilson says the bill is a huge victory
because it extends health coverage to uninsured children while leaving
intact an important health care program that covers thousands of New
Mexico seniors.
Wilson, who introduced a nearly identical bill in July, says she hopes the President will sign the compromise.
“It’s been my hope that we could
have a bipartisan SCHIP reauthorization bill that could gain the
support of Members of both parties and show the strong support that
exists in Congress for this children’s health insurance program,” says
Wilson. “The additions to this bill for mental parity and dental
coverage make the bill even stronger and today we have a strong
bipartisan bill to provide health care coverage to kids. I will vote
for this bill when it comes to the House floor next week and I will
urge my colleagues to also vote for this bill.”
Wilson introduced the Senate bill in
the House in July and led an effort with 16 other moderate Republicans
this week to encourage House leaders to bring the Senate bill to the
floor for a vote.
“This bill is also an incredible
victory for seniors,” said Wilson, who opposed cutting Medicare
Advantage programs as the House Champ bill did. “I heard from more
than a thousand seniors in New Mexico who are very happy with their
coverage and can breathe a sigh of relief now. We have averted a huge
cut for senior health care for now.”
Below is an outline of the agreement, which is designed to target specifically the lowest-income uninsured American children for outreach and enrollment.
Investing $35 Billion in New Funding for SCHIP.
The agreement reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program,
investing an additional $35 billion over five years to strengthen
SCHIP’s financing, increase health insurance coverage for low-income
children, and improve the quality of health care children receive.
Lowering the rate of uninsured low-income children.
The agreement will provide health coverage to millions of low-income
children who are currently uninsured. The bill also ensures that the
6.6 million children who currently participate in SCHIP continue to
receive health coverage. Pending final Congressional Budget Office
estimates, the reduction in the number of uninsured children will
approach four million children.
Improving Access to Benefits for Children (Dental Coverage/Mental Health Parity/EPSDT).
Under the agreement, quality dental coverage will be provided to all
children enrolled in SCHIP. The agreement also ensures states will
offer mental health services on par with medical and surgical benefits
covered under SCHIP, and protects medically necessary benefits (EPSDT)
for low-income children.
Prioritizing children’s coverage. The agreement makes several modifications as it relates to populations eligible for SCHIP.
· Pregnant Women:
The agreement provides coverage to pregnant women as a new state option
as well as preserving the options to cover them through a state waiver
or through regulation.
· Parents:
The agreement prohibits any new waivers to cover parents in the SCHIP
program. States that have received waivers to cover low-income parents
under SCHIP will be allowed to transition parents into a separate block
grant. The federal match for services to parents covered through SCHIP
will be reduced.
· Childless Adults:
The agreement retains the current law prohibition of waivers to allow
coverage of childless adults. Currently covered childless adults will
transition off SCHIP. For states that have received SCHIP waivers to
cover childless adults, the agreement terminates those waivers after a
one-year period, provides temporary Medicaid funding for
already-enrolled adults, and allows states to apply for a Medicaid
waiver for coverage.
Providing states with incentives to lower the rate of uninsured low income children.
Under the financing structure, states will receive state-based
allotments that are responsive to state demographic and national
spending trends and allow additional up-front funding for states
planning improvements. States that face a funding shortfall and meet
enrollment goals will receive an adjustment payment to ensure that no
child who is eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP is denied coverage or
placed on a waiting list. The formula also sets in place new overall
caps on federal funding to ensure the program’s expenditures do not
exceed the amounts authorized. The agreement provides incentives for
states to lower the rate uninsured children by enrolling eligible
children in SCHIP or Medicaid.
Agreement Replaces CMS August 17th Letter to States.
The Congress agrees with the President on the importance of covering
low-income children have health coverage while taking steps to address
crowd-out and prioritize coverage of lower income children. The
agreement replaces the flawed CMS August 17th letter to
states with a more thoughtful and appropriate approach. In place of
the CMS letter, the agreement gives states time and assistance in
developing and implementing best practices to address crowd out. The
agreement also puts the lowest income children first in line by phasing
in a new requirement for coverage of low-income children as a condition
of receiving SCHIP funding for coverage of children above 300 percent
of the poverty level.
Improving Outreach Tools to Simplify and Streamline Enrollment of Eligible Children.
The agreement provides $100 million in grants for new outreach
activities to states, local governments, schools, community-based
organizations, safety-net providers and others.
Improving the Quality of Health Care for Low-Income Children.
The agreement establishes a new quality child health initiative to
develop and implement quality measures and improve state reporting of
quality data.
Improving Access to Private Coverage Options.
The agreement expands on current premium assistance options for
states. The agreement allows states to offer a premium assistance
subsidy for qualified, cost-effective employer-sponsored coverage to
children eligible for SCHIP and who have access to such coverage. It
also changes the federal rules governing employer-sponsored insurance
to make it easier for states and employers to offer premium assistance
programs.
Legislative language is currently
being finalized, and will be available Monday. The House of
Representatives will likely vote on legislation implementing this
agreement on Tuesday of next week. The Senate will take up the measure
shortly thereafter, to deliver a full renewal of the Children’s Health
Insurance Program to the President for signature into law before
SCHIP’s current authorization expires on September 30.
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