Roy Blunt: “I think this 18-month extension gives us the time we need to make SCHIP an even better program. It extends the current…”

“I think this 18-month extension gives us the time we need to make SCHIP an even better program. It extends the current program. It increases funding for the current program. It helps the States that have a shortfall. It ensures that kids who don't have Medicaid, who are in that second 100 percentile, the families who are closest to the Medicaid number, get their coverage first, by not reversing the policies the administration has lately put in place on waivers. It does important things to ensure that the qualifying standards for SCHIP don't change. On those areas that extend Medicare payments to doctors, I would remind my friends here that we're paying for those, most of that, through the stabilization fund on the last big fight here we had. This was the fund we thought we might need to make part D addition to Medicare as a competitive and innovative addition to Medicare work. We didn't need that money because it's working on its own. The last fight we had this big on a health care issue, we kept hearing how terrible it would be for seniors. Eighty-seven percent of the seniors don't think it's terrible at all. I think we're going to see that this debate also leads to better results for SCHIP, not worse results for SCHIP. I'm glad to see this extension.”