Congress Approves Bill to Provide Health Care Coverage
To 11 Million Children and Improve Medicare

Washington, D.C. – August 2, 2007 – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14) joined a majority in the House of Representatives last night in voting to pass legislation that would provide health care to 11 million low-income children and strengthen Medicare. The Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act was approved by a vote of 225 to 204.

“No child in this country should ever go without medical care, and no parent should ever have to hesitate to take their child to a doctor or hospital because they don’t have insurance,” said Congressman Doyle. “As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I helped draft this plan to give 11 million children the care they deserve and move us significantly closer to providing every child in our nation with high quality health care coverage.”

The CHAMP Act would reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and renew SCHIP’s coverage of 6 million children.  It would also extend health care coverage to 5 million more low-income children, covering a total of 11 million children across the country.

SCHIP was established on a bipartisan basis in 1997 by President Clinton and Congress, but it must be reauthorized by September 30, 2007. If the program is not reauthorized by then, the program’s 6 million beneficiaries nationwide could lose their health care.

The CHAMP Act provides $50 billion in new funding for children’s health insurance coverage through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.  Two out of every three uninsured children in the United States are eligible for coverage through these two programs – but there’s not enough federal funding available to cover them. The CHAMP Act would provide 5 million of these children with health insurance coverage.

Children in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania stand to benefit tremendously from the CHAMP Act.  If CHAMP is enacted, 188,000 children in Pennsylvania who are currently enrolled in SCHIP would get to keep their insurance coverage.  In addition, the Commonwealth would see an increase in its federal funding of $50.3 million over last year’s level, allowing it to cover additional eligible but uninsured children.  If this legislation is enacted, all of the 196,000 children in Pennsylvania in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level who are currently uninsured could sign up for affordable health insurance.  

The CHAMP Act would also improve Medicare for 44 million seniors and people with disabilities.  It includes provisions to provide financial assistance to low-income Medicare beneficiaries, control out of pocket costs for seniors, help ensure that seniors have access to the doctors of their choice, and make a series of preventative screenings free for Medicare beneficiaries:

• More than 622,500 Medicare beneficiaries in Pennsylvania, including seniors and people with disabilities, with incomes under 150% of the poverty level would be helped by improvements in the Medicare Savings Program and Low Income Subsidy Program. A substantial number of seniors would receive an additional $1,200 annually in federal assistance with the cost of their Medicare Part B Premium.

• More than 174,200 of the poorest Medicare beneficiaries in Pennsylvania would be protected with limits on out of pocket costs for prescription drugs, including those in home and community care settings.

• The 206,300 Pennsylvania seniors receiving Part D assistance would benefit from simplified applications and automatic renewal of eligibility – which would help to ensure that they don’t lose essential assistance due to red tape and bureaucracy.

• The CHAMP Act would help ensure that Medicare beneficiaries can continue to see the doctors of their choice by eliminating a scheduled 10 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.  Without this measure, many doctors might decide to stop participating in the Medicare program.

• To pay for these new benefits, the legislation would end massive overpayments for insurance companies participating in the Medicare Advantage program, saving taxpayers in Pennsylvania and across the country a lot of money.  The overpayments in Pennsylvania will amount to $591 million in FY 2007 alone. Congressman Doyle believes that money should be going to benefit Medicare beneficiaries, not insurance company stockholders.

New free benefits under Medicare provided under the CHAMP Act would include:

• diabetes screening tests
• screening for glaucoma
• an initial preventive physical examination
• bone mass measurement
• prostate cancer screening tests
• colorectal cancer screening tests
• mammography screening
• pap smear screening

“The CHAMP Act will help ensure seniors get the care they need and are able to choose their own doctor,” observed Congressman Doyle. “The legislation we passed yesterday expands Medicare benefits and saves seniors money.”

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