Whitehouse Urges Passage of Children's Health Care Bill
January 27, 2009
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, this week, we have the chance here in the Senate to provide health insurance to 4.1 million children in this country who now don't have it, to cover 11 million children total. And all we have to do is the right thing and pass H.R. 2, the Children's Health Insurance Program.
I know that the distinguished presiding officer from Nebraska, the distinguished senator who has just spoken so eloquently from Virginia, have all shared the experience that I've had in my home state of Rhode Island, and that is to travel around and hear personal stories from people whose lives and whose health have collided with our broken, dysfunctional health care system. Too often, families in this country can't afford to pay for the care they need. And as our economic troubles worsen, that problem only grows more acute. Too often, they can't even get in to see a doctor. Too often, when they do receive care, it falls short in quality, in effectiveness and in timeliness.
The crisis in our health care system affects all of us - but it is greatest, and it is most tragic, when it affects our children. That's why Congress created the Children's Health Insurance Program, which for years - years - has given millions of uninsured American families - hard working American families - access to health care for their kids.
The program has not only expanded health care coverage for children, it has encouraged states to be flexible, innovative, and responsive in meeting their families' health care needs. We come from 50 different states with 50 different sets of history, demographics, economics. And as a result, the states come up with different programs. That's something to celebrate, not to bemoan. The program has safeguarded the vulnerable, it has united families, and it has invested in the future of our nation. It is a special program, of all the things that we do here.
The Children's Health Insurance Program means that children are more likely to receive medical care for common conditions like asthma or ear infections; it means that children end up with higher school attendance rates; that children have higher academic achievement. It means that children have more contacts with medical professionals, it means that children receive more preventive care. It means that children go to the emergency room when it's an emergency, and when it's not, they have someplace else to go that allows them and their families to stay out of those expensive, urgent care settings.
So just as we've done for the past two years, this week, we're working to pass legislation to ensure that every eligible uninsured child in America can get regular checkups when they're well and can get medicine when they're sick.
Not long ago, former President Bush denied children needed health care coverage by vetoing this legislation. But the American voters have spoken, and we are in a new era in this country - a new era for peace of mind, for security, and for dignity for American children and for their families. With a new Congress and a new President committed to health care for all American families, I could not be more hopeful as we discuss this bill today.
I 'm especially proud to serve with my senior Senator, with Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and to support him in this fight. I've been in the Senate for two years now. Before I even got here Jack Reed was one of the most prominent, most ardent, and most determined fighters for our nation's children. And frankly, it is in significant part due to his relentless work that we've come this far.
I am proud also to represent a state that has one of the lowest rates of uninsured adults and children in the nation. It was not easy. Rhode Island worked hard over the past 15 years to achieve this success. It began with the RIteCare program in 1993. In 2001, the creation of the Children's Health Insurance Program allowed Rhode Island to further reduce uninsurance rates in the state. I am proud to have been on the team of former Governor Bruce Sundlun, who turned 89 just a few days ago. When he was governor, he created the original RIteCare program. His vision and determination to do this, in a time of really grave economic straits for Rhode Island, has yielded immense rewards.
Now, as health care costs skyrocket, and the number of people in this country who lack health insurance approaches the staggering number of 50 million - 50 million Americans - and so many of them children, we in Congress have an obligation to strengthen initiatives like RIteCare, through which states have made health care more accessible.
Today, 4.1 million uninsured children are waiting for us to pass this bill - 4.1 million children who might not see a doctor this winter when they get the flu because their parents can't afford to pay out of pocket for the visit, 4.1 million children who might delay needed vaccinations or other preventive care because their parents have to buy food instead, 4.1 million children who might not get an inhaler, or insulin, or, heaven forbid, chemotherapy because in this economic downturn, the money just isn't there.
Who could say no to uninsured, vulnerable children? Should we not at least be able to agree on that? Why would anyone say no? We plan to raise taxes on cigarettes. A tax that the American Cancer Society says could prevent nearly one million deaths and keep nearly two million children from starting to smoke? A tax whose health savings could ultimately decrease government costs for government health care programs? A tax that the Congressional Budget Office confirms will fully offset this bill so as not to add to our deficit? I don't think that would be a good reason to deny vulnerable children the safety and security of health insurance.
During the course of this discussion, some members have tried to make this debate about illegal immigration. It's not. We should not permit the very difficult issue of illegal immigration to affect this bill, to deny millions of children the health care that they badly need. That would be a grave mistake. That would be a wrong.
Let me be very clear: only children who are legally in the United States are eligible to receive coverage under Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. They must document their immigration status. Medicaid agencies use information provided by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to confirm the status of legal immigrants applying for benefits. Further, this bill does not even require states to cover legal immigrant children - it simply provides and supports that option.
Legal immigrants pay taxes, they serve in our armed forces, and just like the rest of us, they play by the rules. They are our future citizens, and insuring their children makes sense. This was the law until 1996, when sweeping restrictions affecting legal immigrants were made. Since 1996, we have become wiser and many of those restrictions have been reversed on a bipartisan basis by Congress. The provision in this legislation covering legal immigrants is fully consistent with that trend back to 1996 levels.
Mr. President, this nation is slowly emerging from a dark time - when our ideals and our virtues were too often hidden in the shadows, when we let our fear overcome our principles and our better judgment, when we lost sight of our priorities, and left millions of people in the cold and millions of children uninsured. That time can end now.
This bill is a chance to show these millions of Americans that we've heard them, and that we stand ready to help. We know how tough it is for working families in this economy. If there is one worry, one burden that we can take off those parents' shoulders so that they can be sure that their children have the health insurance that every American deserves, we should stand ready to help. This country should once again own its duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and to restore dignity and hope where it has diminished.
I want to close by applauding Chairman Baucus and the Finance Committee for bringing this vitally important and long-overdue legislation to the floor, and I urge all of my colleagues - it would be wonderful if we could do this together - to allow these 11 million children to be covered by health insurance, to have access to the health care that they need, to grow up healthy and strong, and ready to seize the boundless opportunities that are at the heart of the American dream. I think we will find in the months and then the years ahead that there will be things that we cannot do to help families. I know everybody in this chamber wants to do everything that they can, and we want to work as hard as we can, but the economic situation is dire, and we're not going to be able to do everything that we would like. But this... this is something that we can do. This is something that we can do for American families and for their children, and I hope very much that we will do it. I yield the floor.