Spratt Backs Bill To Provide Health Care for 11 Million Children

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) Wednesday joined a majority in the House of Representatives in support of bipartisan legislation to provide health care to 11 million children in modest-income families. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act was approved by a vote of 289-139. The bill is very similar to the legislation that President Bush vetoed twice in the last Congress.

“No child in our country should be without medical care,” said Spratt. “I was proud to back a plan to help improve the health and chance for success for 11 million children, reduce the costly use of emergency rooms for primary care, and move us closer to providing every child in our nation with affordable, high-quality health care.”

Spratt helped to create SCHIP in 1997 as part of the Balanced Budget Act. The program provides health care coverage for children in families that earn too little to afford health insurance for their children themselves but too much to qualify for Medicaid. “This bill will give states the resources and incentives necessary to reach and cover millions of uninsured children who are currently eligible for, but not enrolled in, SCHIP and Medicaid,” Spratt said.

The bill passed by the House today would reauthorize SCHIP through FY 2013 and preserve coverage for all 7.1 million children currently covered by SCHIP, including preserving coverage of 59,920 children in South Carolina. The bill also extends health care coverage to 4.1 million additional low-income children, who are currently uninsured. The bill is fully paid for by increasing the tobacco tax.

“Covering more eligible children is not only the right thing to do – it makes good economic sense for taxpayers who will not foot the bill for costlier problems down the road,” said Spratt. “In addition, a healthy child is better prepared to learn and succeed in school.”

Spratt also said the bill is one way the government can help families through the recession, where more and more parents are losing employer-sponsored health care for their children.

“I hope SCHIP will be one of the first bills signed into law by President Obama,” Spratt said.