July 27, 2007— Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) gave the following statement in response to the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill, which would extend coverage to illegal immigrants while slashing funding for Medicare Advantage, which provides flexible, affordable, and modern health care solutions to more than eight million Americans, including minorities, individuals with lower incomes, and Americans living in rural areas.

“Protecting and providing a better future for children has been the highest priority for me throughout my entire career and my work here in Congress.  However, I am afraid that by increasing spending, reducing competitive private-market health care, and expanding government subsidies far beyond the scope of their intent, this bill will only reduce the quality and availability of health care that we leave for our children and future generations.

“One recent report estimated that in Arizona alone, an estimated 48,000 seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage as the result of this legislation.  But not only does it drastically expand government-run health care at the expense of 3.2 million tax-paying American seniors who will be left without Medicare Advantage, it would also effectively extend these taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants by removing the provision requiring applicants to provide proof of citizenship.”

“It’s been said that ‘If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free.’  While there are certainly flaws in our health care system, it is also the most efficient and vibrant in the modern world; and if we are to preserve and improve it for future generations, government must strengthen, not reduce, free-market Medicare plans which truly deliver better quality health care for our senior citizens.”

The Medicare Advantage program is a critical source of comprehensive medical coverage for more than 20 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries, providing many services that are unavailable to other recipients.

Under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), reforms enacted by the Republican-led Congress in 1996 restricting federal benefits to those who are lawfully in the United States would be eliminated, and the federal government would disperse billions of dollars to states who have the option of whether or not to verify that a beneficiary is an American citizen before providing taxpayer-funded health benefits like Medicaid and SCHIP.  The bill also eliminates the current five-year waiting period required for legal immigrants to receive government health benefits.