Lynn A. Westmoreland: “The Republican Congress, in 1997, when they came up with this program, and they funded this program, it was a block…”

“The Republican Congress, in 1997, when they came up with this program, and they funded this program, it was a block grant to the States. And they thought that the States would be there looking after these children that belonged to families under the 200 percent poverty level that didn't have health insurance to give them some affordable, or at least some, health care. But what happened is these States didn't work hard enough to go out looking for these children, so they said, Look, we'll insure adults. Then you learn from your mistakes. This program has been going on 10 years, and I think the President and the administration saw some of the errors that were in this program and tried to correct them and want to correct them in a new bill. What it would do is say, look, all the States are going to be at a 200 percent poverty level. What has happened is States such as New Jersey and others have gone in and gotten waivers to go up to 300 and 400 percent, and that has caused a disbalance in some States that have taken their block grant, that have insured the children, spent the money wisely, and then others that have taken advantage of the system.”