Sherrod Brown: “the Republican children's health care expansion proposal in the Budget Reconciliation Act before us today will not…”

“the Republican children's health care expansion proposal in the Budget Reconciliation Act before us today will not ensure real health insurance coverage for the maximum number of children in the most cost-effective manner. I am deeply concerned because the Republican plan does not offer a real guarantee of health care coverage for children or a real benefits package. The Republican block grant contains a so-called direct services loophole which could mean that not a single taxpayer penny is used to provide health insurance for our Nation's 10 million uninsured children. States would be free to divert Federal children's health care expansion funds from directly providing health care coverage for uninsured children to instead providing direct payments to hospitals who will suffer under the disproportionate share cuts in this bill. Just as many States misused the DSH program in the early 1990s to pay for highway repairs and other related programs, I fear that States will use these Federal funds to plug holes in shrinking State budgets. We surely should have learn our lesson.”