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Senate, House Announce Agreement to Renew, Improve Children's Health Insurance Program Now |
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From Office of the Speaker of the House: A bipartisan coalition of Senate and House leaders today announced a bicameral agreement to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for an additional five years. The $35 billion agreement struck by House and Senate negotiators will bring health coverage to approximately ten million children in need preserving coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by CHIP, and reaching millions more low-income, uninsured American children in the next five years. The agreement reauthorizes the Children's Health Insurance Program, investing an additional $35 billion over five years to strengthen CHIP's financing, increase health insurance coverage for low-income children, and improve the quality of health care children receive. For states that have received CHIP waivers to cover childless adults, the agreement terminates those waivers after a one-year period, provides temporary Medicaid funding for already-enrolled adults, and allows states to apply for a Medicaid waiver for coverage. The Congress agrees with the President on the importance of covering low-income children have health coverage while taking steps to address crowd-out and prioritize coverage of lower income children. Today, they called for continued cooperation across the Congress to pass the legislation, and urged President Bush to drop his threat to veto health care coverage for approximately ten million American kids. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): "President Bush should support the bipartisan Children's Health Insurance Program legislation for 10 million reasons -- the 10 million children who will receive health care coverage should this bill become law. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.): "Right now, millions of children in America's working families can't see doctors when they should, can't get medicines when they need them, because their parents just can't afford costly private insurance.
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