[Peace-discuss] from CCHCC: URGENT: NEW CHILDREN'S HEALTH VOTE TODAY!

[Robert Naiman]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Allison Jones <allison at healthcareconsumers.org>
Date: Oct 25, 2007 11:29 AM
Subject: [cchcc-l] URGENT:  NEW CHILDREN'S HEALTH VOTE TODAY!
To: cchcc-l at lists.shout.net

Dear Friends,

Once again, there is an urgent need for children's health advocates to take
action. The House has another opportunity to vote to reauthorize the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

If you can take a couple of minutes to place a phone call to Rep. Tim
Johnson, it might just help make the difference!

Champaign County Health Care Consumers thanks you for your activism!

***************************
UPDATE ON SCHIP:

Today, the House will consider H.R. 3963, a revised version of the
Children's Health Insurance bill which the President vetoed on October 3.
While still providing health care coverage for 10 million children, the
revised bill contains several provisions to meet concerns that have been
raised about the original bill (please see the bottom of this message for
more specific information on HR 3963).

Congress is acting expeditiously on this revised bill because there are few
legislative days remaining before the   Thanksgiving Recess and the
SCHIP(pronounced S-CHIP) short-term extension expires on November 16.

**************************
TAKE ACTION:

Take Action!  Call Today!

1.  Dial Representative Johnson's Champaign Office: (217) 403-4690
2.  Ask to leave message for Representative Johnson
3.  Tell him: "I strongly urge Representative Johnson to vote YES on HR
3963, the revised SCHIP bill. Thank you"
4.  If the staff member asks for your address or phone number, please
provide it as they are required to send in reports to the D.C. office.

***************************
THANK YOU!

Thank you for your work on this vital issue. The struggle is to protect a 10
year old health coverage program with a proven track record of improving
children's health.

***************************
INFORMATION ABOUT REVISED SCHIP BILL, HR 3963:

On October 2, Congress sent the President H.R. 976, the bipartisan State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill, which provided 10 million
American children with health care.  The bill had been passed by strong,
bipartisan votes of 265 to 159 in the House and 67 to 29 in the Senate.  And
yet, unfortunately, on October 3, the President vetoed this bipartisan bill.


The new bill, HR 3963, which once again provides 10 million American
children with health care coverage, responds to concerns raised without
substantially reducing the number of children who will be helped. These
changes have been made to gain the votes needed to override a veto.

The bipartisan bill that the President vetoed had included several
provisions that were designed to ensure that:  1) the focus would be on
enrolling low-income children in SCHIP first; 2) SCHIP would not cover
undocumented immigrants; 3) SCHIP coverage of adults would be phased out;
and 4) children leaving private insurance for SCHIP would be minimized.

Despite the fact that the vetoed bill addressed these concerns, opponents of
the legislation continued to cite these concerns without acknowledging that
the proposed legislation did address the concerns. Because it is so
imperative to pass the SCHIP legislation, the revised bill includes
additional provisions to meet these concerns.

The revised bill further clarifies the following:

1) Focus on enrolling low-income children first:
* States will not be able to use CHIP money to cover children in families
with incomes above 300 percent of the federal poverty level.  (New Jersey,
the only state covering children up to 350 percent of the poverty
line, will be temporarily allowed to continue.)
*Bonuses to states will be targeted at enrolling the poorest children
in Medicaid.

2) SCHIP would not cover undocumented immigrants:
* States must verify citizenship status; no federal funds may be used
to cover undocumented immigrants.
* If the Social Security Administration cannot confirm an applicant's
citizenship, the applicant will be required to provide the state with
additional documentation to confirm eligibility.

3) SCHIP coverage of adults would be phased out:
* Coverage of childless adults will be phased out in one year (the original
bill allowed two years).

4) Children leaving private insurance for SCHIP (known as "crowd-out") would
be minimized:
* All states will be required to develop plans and implement recommended
best practices for minimizing "crowd-out."
* Premium assistance programs (using SCHIP funds to help subsidize
employer-sponsored health coverage for a child) are added to the list of
things a state can do to get bonus payments.

*** Please note that these areas of concern have really not been an issue in
the State of Illinois. SCHIP in Illinois, in the form of the All Kids and
FamilyCare programs, already contained most of these provisions.***







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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Champaign County Health Care Consumers
44 E. Main Street  Suite 208
Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: (217) 352-6533
Fax:   (217) 352-9745
E-mail: cchcc at healthcareconsumers.org
Web:    www.healthcareconsumers.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
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