Passage of the CHAMP Act will improve Medicare and the State Children's Health Insurance Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today affirmed her commitment to seniors and children by voting for the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act.
“Every child in America should have health care,” Giffords said. “Every senior in America should know Medicare will be there for them when they need it.”
The CHAMP Act passed the House of Representative this evening with bipartisan support in a 225-204 vote. It provides $50 billion in new funding for children’s health insurance coverage through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Known as KidsCare in Arizona, the program will provide insurance coverage to 290,000 eligible children in our state.
The act also improves Medicare for 44 million seniors and people with disabilities. It protects Medicare physicians from an impending 10 percent payment decrease while adding new preventative benefits, increasing assistance for low-income beneficiaries, and cutting overpayments to private insurance companies. In Arizona, more than 69,000 of the poorest residents will be protected with limits on out of pocket costs for prescription drugs and more than 75,000 seniors receiving Part D assistance will benefit from simplified applications and automatic renewal of eligibility.
“This common-sense legislation impacts all Arizonans,” Giffords said. “Every state taxpayer will benefit from the elimination of overpayments to private insurance companies that provide Medicare services - overpayments that amounted to $316 million this year alone in Arizona.”
The CHAMP Act is supported by numerous local and national groups. “We strongly support the legislation as do most Medicare advocacy groups,” said Jim Murphy, interim executive director of the Pima Council on Aging. Other supporters include AARP, Families USA, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Child Welfare League.
The bulk of the CHAMP Act is financed through adjusting current federal health spending. The only other funding source in the bill is increasing the current federal excise tax on cigarettes by $.45 per pack.
“I believe the tobacco tax is sound fiscal and health policy,” Giffords said. “Raising the cost of cigarettes is the best way to stop children from starting to smoke in the first place. In the years to come, this will save billions in health care dollars and tens of thousands of young lives.”