[StBernard] Landrieu-supported Children's Health Care Bill Signed into Law

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu-supported Children's Health Insurance Bill Becomes Law 

President signs legislation that extends health insurance coverage to an
additional 82,100 Louisiana children.

 

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama this afternoon signed into law a
children's health care insurance bill supported by United States Senator
Mary Landrieu, D-La., that will more than double the amount of funding for
Louisiana, giving an additional 82,100 children coverage. The legislation
contains a new funding formula allowing the Louisiana Children's Health
Insurance Program (LaCHIP) to offer low-cost or no-cost health care plans to
235,000 Louisiana children.  

 "After more than a year of political stalemate, finally passing this
bipartisan legislation will give millions of low-income American children
the health care they need," Sen. Landrieu said. "Not only has Congress
expanded the number of children who will receive health coverage, we have
improved the quality of care and services that programs like LaCHIP can
offer. Preventative care is the key to maintaining a healthy population and
keeping insurance rates lower for all Americans." 

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill funds the
children's insurance program for four and a half years, and provides
insurance to more than four million children across the nation who were not
previously covered. Current authorization and funding for SCHIP was $84.1
million and was set to expire on March 31, 2009. The new law changes the
allotment formula so that Louisiana will receive $207 million for LaCHIP. A
similar bill was vetoed by President Bush in 2007. 

The law includes measures to ensure that illegal immigrants do not receive
health care coverage under SCHIP. For the first time, recipients of SCHIP
benefits must comply with all citizenship documentation required by
Medicare. 

"This bill takes a commonsense approach to making the program more
efficient," Sen. Landrieu said.  "It also extends health care to 4.1 million
more children through a tax increase on tobacco products - and not by
dipping into the Federal Treasury."   

Since 1997, SCHIP has been a vital program for low-income children in
working families whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too
little to purchase private health insurance, which now costs about $12,000
per year for families. The children's health program has reduced the number
of uninsured children in America by more than one-quarter and has improved
both health outcomes and access to care for millions of children across this
nation. There are still an estimated nine million uninsured children in
America and six million of them are already eligible but not enrolled in
either Medicaid or CHIP.