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First Congressional District of New Mexico
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ask.heather@mail.house.gov

In Washington DC
442 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC
20515
202-225-6316 Phone
202-225-4975 Fax
In Albuquerque
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM
87102
505-346-6781 Phone
505-346-6723 Fax

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Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico


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Wilson Works for Children`s Health Dollars July 07, 2004
 
Legislation Would Help NM Use Funds In State
Albuquerque, NM - Congresswoman Heather Wilson joined Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA) in introducing legislation today that would allow New Mexico to use more federal funds for the health care of low-income children. The Children`s Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2004 would allow New Mexico and ten other states to keep 20 percent of their unspent State Children`s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds each year and use it on low-income children in Medicaid. "New Mexico has only been able to spend about 17 percent of its SCHIP dollars since the creation of the program in 1998," said Wilson. "This bill would allow New Mexico to keep more of its allotment, and use it to meet the health needs of low-income children." States that had expanded their Medicaid programs to cover children up to or above 185 percent of the federal poverty limit before the creation of SCHIP were not allowed to use SCHIP dollars on those populations. This policy essentially penalizes states that had done the right thing early on and leads to a large amount of unspent SCHIP dollars each year. "While some states have been able to use these funds for children that come from families with a certain income, New Mexico has not been able to use these funds for the same kids because of the way the original SCHIP law was written," said Wilson. Wilson estimates the legislation would allow New Mexico to keep about $21 million in unspent SCHIP funds from 2002 and 2003, in addition to 20 percent of unspent SCHIP allotments in all future years. Congressman Inslee said: "States should not be punished because they had the foresight to expand coverage to children prior to the enactment of SCHIP. This bipartisan legislation will fix this inequity and increase coverage for children in my state, and other states affected by this problem. It`s a pleasure to join Congresswoman Wilson to resolve this problem in our respective states." A similar measure was introduced in the Senate last year. The legislation has the support of the entire New Mexico congressional delegation. The legislation was referred to the Energy and Commerce Committee on which Wilson serves. Wilson pushed similar legislation through the Committee last year that was signed into law on November 17, 2003. That legislation allowed New Mexico to keep about $14 million in unused SCHIP funds from past years, but didn`t expand the populations that could be served by the fund. -END-
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