Lowey Praises Passage of SCHIP Reauthorization

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) today hailed House passage of the Children’s Health and Medicare Improvement (CHAMP) Act as a momentous step forward in the fight to provide affordable insurance to children.

“Today the House of Representatives took a major step forward, expanding the scope of the SCHIP program to reach millions more children nationwide,” Lowey said. “The program will help children and families in need get the insurance and healthcare that are so critical during developmental years.”

SCHIP currently provides affordable health coverage to six million children. Unfortunately, the current program is significantly under funded. States do not have enough funding to provide health coverage to children who are currently enrolled in the program, let alone the estimated six million who are eligible but not enrolled. Without Congressional action, by 2012, 35 States will face funding shortfalls. This legislation will ensure that SCHIP provides the resources states need to protect existing coverage and cover five million more children nationally.

The CHAMP Act also takes a number of important steps to protect seniors’ access to health care, including: ensuring access to the doctors of beneficiaries’ choice by stopping a 10% Medicare payment cut to doctors; increasing access to preventive health benefits by eliminating co-payments and deductibles for certain procedures covered by Medicare; and improving Medicare’s finances by extending the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by two years.

The bill also includes two provisions based on legislation written by Congresswoman Lowey:

* It would allow states to offer family planning services to Medicaid recipients without having to obtain a federal waiver to do so; and
* It would add important consumer protections to Medicare Part D. The bill would provide states with the authority to regulate private plans’ marketing abuses and increase penalties for violations, enable all beneficiaries to switch Part D plans if their plans alter their formularies, and allow low-income beneficiaries to change plans at any time.


Lindsay Farrell, President and CEO of Open Door Family Medical Centers added, “This program is so important to thousands of families across Westchester. Thousands of kids who would not otherwise have access to health care benefit from SCHIP.”