Jay Rockefeller: “The whole concept that somehow this Children's Health Insurance Program is a Government-run health care program--is…”

“The whole concept that somehow this Children's Health Insurance Program is a Government-run health care program--is wrong. Throw that out. It is completely and totally wrong. It is not even an entitlement program. It is a capped block grant program to the States. It is optional. The States don't have to use it if they don't want to. All of them do, including the District of Columbia, but it is optional. In virtually all cases, the CHIP programs as they are carried out by the States are funded through private insurance, very much the way it was done in the Medicare prescription drug benefit plan. Thirty-nine States only use private insurance. It has nothing to do with the Government-run health insurance program. It is health insurance under the private sector using insurance companies, private insurance companies.”