Lincoln Chafee: “Mr. President, the second-degree amendment, as I understand it, by the Senator from Delaware says that all those…”

“Mr. President, the second-degree amendment, as I understand it, by the Senator from Delaware says that all those individuals who are currently eligible for Medicaid would be eligible in the future even though the eligibility standards might be lowered, and thus if a new person came along, they would not be eligible for Medicaid because the cash assistance payments standard would have been lowered. Mr. President, to me that is a very impractical proposal because what you have to do is get a list of everybody who is currently, I presume, on Medicaid, who meets the eligibility standards, and then I presume that is the permanent list. If somebody comes along who is at the same level, so you have two women side by side, one who qualifies because of the existing standards and another comes along in the future who does not quite get there by whatever date this bill passes and the AFDC standards or the cash assistance standards have then been dropped, this other woman does not qualify, she and her children. She has dependent children. You might say, ``Oh, no, do not worry about those children; they are taken care of under the 100 percent poverty.'' No, they are not. That is very clear--100 percent of poverty only covers those under 13. Next year it will be 14 and 15.”