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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, issued the following statement after the House passed the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act.
The New Jersey congressman is one of four authors of the legislation. He was joined in writing this bill by U.S. Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Health.
"The Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act is predicated upon a very simple idea: we as a civil and compassionate society should make every effort to care for those who are least able to care for themselves.
"Today in our country there are nearly forty seven million Americans who don’t have health insurance. Millions more are underinsured. What is most appalling is that approximately nine million of those who are uninsured are children. That is a national disgrace. In a country as wealthy and compassionate as ours, no child should be without health insurance, let alone nine million children.
"This disturbing statistic would be undoubtedly worse if it were not for the Children’ Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Since it was established ten years ago, CHIP has helped reduce the number of uninsured children in our nation.
"While the program has largely been a success and has enjoyed bipartisan support, it is now being threatened. Last year, for the first time since 1998, the number of uninsured children in the country actually increased. As the cost of insurance increases, employers are dropping coverage and more hard working American families are being priced out of the individual market. We must stop this alarming trend by strengthening CHIP so it can better serve those in need.
"Under the CHAMP Act, CHIP would be reauthorized in a way that provides States with the additional financial resources and tools they need to improve their programs and ensure more low income children are enrolled. The CHAMP Act will increase the number of children enrolled in CHIP by nearly 100-percent to more than 11 million kids.
"In addition to covering more kids, the CHAMP Act contains some very important provisions to strengthen the Medicare program so it can better meet the needs of our elderly and disabled population. This bill would make long overdue and necessary reforms to existing payment policies that are terribly misguided and threaten the solvency of the Medicare program, as well as beneficiaries' access to care.
"This bill is worthy of the support of the entire House. Unfortunately, President Bush and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen instead to turn their backs on our nation’s children and senior citizens and engage in an ideological battle.
"This bill is not about socialized medicine or government run health care. That is nothing but a red herring. This bill is about providing health care coverage to those most vulnerable among us: our children and elderly. This is not ideological. This is common sense.
"I commend my colleagues for supporting the CHAMP Act today."
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