Sens. Grassley, Hatch, Roberts urge President Bush to protect children’s health care dollars
WASHINGTON — Leading Republican members of the Senate Finance Committeetoday called on the President to stop the Department of Health and Human Services fromgranting and extending waivers for adult coverage under the State Children’s Health InsuranceProgram.
In a letter, Sens. Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Pat Roberts said they were committedto returning the program to its focus on low-income children as they work on legislation tocontinue the program for another five years. They said the administration’s approval andrenewal of waivers has made it more expensive and more complicated to reauthorize SCHIP.
Grassley and Hatch have been working closely with the Finance Committee Chairmanand the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health Care to reach a bipartisan agreement on areauthorization proposal. The Finance Committee is responsible for health care legislation andoversight of federal health care programs.
A number of states cover more adults through their SCHIP program than they dochildren, even while high rates of uninsured low-income children remain and the states ran out ofmoney for the program. SCHIP is jointly financed by federal and state governments and isadministered by the states.
“The mess created by the waivers makes it even more difficult to reauthorize SCHIP,”Grassley said. “The waivers made program costs mushroom and led to funding shortfalls.Congress had to stopgap those shortfalls, and now Congress has to address the additional coststhat come with all the adults that the administration approved for coverage under the children’shealth insurance program, as we work to get the program back on track and fulfilling its missionof delivering health care to low-income children.”
“The purpose of CHIP is to help the children of the working poor, those whose parentsmake too much for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance,” Hatch said. “CHIP hasbeen incredibly successful in delivering care to children for 10 years, and altering that model toallow waivers for adults undermines our ability to help these kids out.”
“I strongly support returning the SCHIP program to its original focus: low-incomechildren. We are signaling to the White House today that we want to make sure we are puttingkids first. While we all agree with the need to address the issue of finding affordable health careoptions for adults, we shouldn’t be putting low-income kids at risk by using SCHIP as a vehicleto cover adults. Our focus should be providing health care coverage to those low-incomechildren who still remain without health care coverage. Unfortunately, these waivers havethreatened this priority, but it is our hope the administration will help us return SCHIP to its goalof covering low-income children,” Roberts said.
The text of the letter sent from Grassley, Hatch and Roberts to President George W. Bushfollows below, along with the text of a letter regarding the same matter from the three senators toSecretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt.
July 11, 2007The PresidentThe White HouseWashington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As Republicans, we are supportive of efforts to provide health insurance coverage toeligible low income children. As part of the reauthorization of the State Children’s HealthInsurance Program (SCHIP) we are committed to returning this program to its focus on lowincome children.
We are very concerned that the Department of Health and Human Services has approvedand extended state waivers to cover adults. Simply put, adults should not have been added to aprogram for low-income children.
As you know, a number of these very states cover more adults through their SCHIPprogram than they do children. Yet, several of these states still have very high rates of uninsuredlow income children. Further, as these states covered adults in the SCHIP program, they ranshort of funds. When this occurred, these states expected Congress to bail them out of fundingshortfalls caused by funding that should not have been approved by HHS from the beginning.The fact that the Department has approved these waivers in the past and has continued toextend them has complicated the reauthorization of the SCHIP program. Consequently, as partof reauthorization, Congress must address the adult populations added by the waivers.
We believe it is time to do all we can to return SCHIP to its original focus of coveringlow income children. Therefore, we respectfully request that you take steps to ensure that theDepartment refrains from granting or extending waivers for adult coverage under SCHIP.We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Charles E. GrassleyUnited States SenatorRanking Member of the Committee on FinanceOrrin G. HatchUnited States SenatorRanking Member of the Finance Subcommittee on Health CarePat RobertsUnited States SenatorMember of the Committee on FinanceCC: The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary, Department of Health and Human ServicesJuly 11, 2007The Honorable Michael LeavittSecretaryU.S. Department of Health and Human Services200 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Today we are sending a letter to the President regarding the approval of certain waiversfor adults in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). As part of thereauthorization of the SCHIP, we are committed to returning this program to its focus on lowincome children. We are very concerned that the Department of Health and Human Services hasapproved and extended state waivers to cover adults. While we recognize that most of thewaivers were approved before your tenure as secretary, simply put, adults should not have beenadded to a program for low-income children.
As you know, a number of these very states cover more adults through their SCHIPprogram than they do children. Yet, several of these states still have very high rates of uninsuredlow income children. Further, as these states covered adults in the SCHIP program, they ranshort of funds. When this occurred, these states expected Congress to bail them out of fundingshortfalls caused by funding that should not have been approved by HHS from the beginning.The fact that the Department has approved these waivers in the past and has continued toextend them has complicated the reauthorization of the SCHIP program. Consequently, as partof reauthorization, Congress must address the adult populations added by the waivers.
As Republicans, we are supportive of efforts to provide health insurance coverage toeligible low income children. We believe it is time to do all we can to return SCHIP to itsoriginal focus of covering low income children. Therefore, we respectfully request that you takesteps to ensure that the Department refrains from granting or extending waivers for adultcoverage under SCHIP.
We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Charles E. GrassleyUnited States SenatorRanking Member of the Committee on FinanceOrrin G. HatchUnited States SenatorRanking Member of the Finance Subcommittee on Health CarePat RobertsUnited States SenatorMember of the Committee on Finance
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