Debbie Dingell: “the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, the CHAMP Act, is a good piece of legislation. It expands and…”

“the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, the CHAMP Act, is a good piece of legislation. It expands and improves a most successful program, bipartisan in character, created in 1997. That program has cut the rate of uninsured children by a full third. Some States have been able to ensure as many as 60 percent of the children who previously had no health insurance. This bill is about taking care of our kids. It is about taking care of the future of the country. Today, 6 million of our youngsters get their health care through the program. With this legislation, an additional 5 million previously uninsured children will be able to see doctors, receive immunizations, and get dental and mental health coverage. The bill requires that children receive priority in coverage. It allows States to cover pregnant women, recognizing that healthy moms make for healthy babies. I am certain my Republican colleagues on Energy and Commerce understood this point, because our clerk read this bill to them. As I am sure all of us there will recall, all some 486 pages were to be read. The CHAMP Act does not allow one thin dime to be spent on illegal aliens. You will find this prohibition in section 135 of the bill. Nor does it create a government-run health insurance system. Coverage under CHIP and Medicaid are provided primarily through private health insurance. All but two States use some form of managed care for their programs.”