WASHINGTON, July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Congress begins debate over the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), governors are calling on Congressional leaders to ensure that legislation allowing states to continue to make progress in covering children is enacted into law as soon as possible.
A letter signed by 22 Democratic governors and additional statements from bipartisan groups of governors all call on Congressional leaders to enact legislation allowing states to continue to make progress in covering children as soon as possible. The nation's governors have indicated that a successful SCHIP reauthorization is the top health priority for states this year.
In the letter last month to Congressional leaders, Democratic governors offered Congress five principles that must be included in any SCHIP reauthorization:
1. Provide $50 billion in new funding to make progress covering
additional children.
2. Improve the flawed SCHIP funding formula, which has caused some states
to experience federal funding shortfalls and has jeopardized health
care for children.
3. Break down barriers to enrollment and give governors more tools to
find and enroll uninsured children.
4. Reject any proposal that would limit governor's flexibility in the
current program or through federally-approved waivers.
5. Give states that were leaders in providing coverage to children before
the enactment of SCHIP in 1997 the ability to utilize all their
federal dollars.
"Together," the governors wrote, "the federal government and the states can substantially increase health coverage for America's children."
A timely and successful SCHIP reauthorization is the governors' foremost federal health care priority. At the same time, Democratic governors, who lead a solid majority of states, are expanding access to affordable health care in every corner of the country.
"We need SCHIP to provide adequate, predictable, and stable funding and to allow states to design their programs to match their particular needs," the governors wrote.
Further, Democratic governors are committed to ensuring that the SCHIP legislation not become weighed down with provisions that would diminish the chance of a successful reauthorization that provides states with sufficient resources to cover more children and maintains their flexibility.
Governors who signed letters endorsing the important principles above include: Govs. Jennifer M. Granholm (Mich.), Bill Ritter (Col.), Ruth Ann Minner (Del.), Rod Blagojevich (Ill.), Chet Culver (Iowa), Kathleen Sebelius (Kan.), John Baldacci (Maine), Deval Patrick (Mass.), John Lynch (N.H.), Jon S. Corzine (N.J.), Bill Richardson (N.M.), Eliot Spitzer (N.Y.), Ted Strickland (Ohio), Brad Henry (Okla.), Ted Kulongoski (Ore.), Ed Rendell (Penn.), Anibal Acevedo Vila (P.R.), Timothy M. Kaine (Va.), Chris Gregoire (Wash.), Jim Doyle (Wis.) and Dave Freudenthal (Wyo.), and Janet Napolitano (Ariz.).
Democratic Governors Association
CONTACT: Brian Namey of the Democratic Governors Association, Office:
+1-202-772-5620, Cell: +1-202-374-0002
