TampaSupremo
Hellbent for Glory-land
Received this today from Saxby Chambliss' office:
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) established the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The program offers federal matching funds to states to provide health insurance to certain low-income children. Annual state allotments are determined by a formula that is based on the number of low-income children and low-income uninsured children in each state.
The latest official numbers show that SCHIP provides health benefits for nearly 4.5 million children nationally. Of this total, over 3.2 million were covered in separate state programs, such as PeachCare for Kids in Georgia . PeachCare , which currently has over 290,000 enrollees, is designed to provide comprehensive health care to Georgia children through the age of 18 who do not qualify for Medicaid and live in households with incomes at or below 235 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). In Georgia , a family of three may earn up to $40,000 a year and a family of four up to $48,500 a year and still qualify for healthcare coverage for their children in PeachCare .
On August 2, 2007, the Senate passed H.R. 976, a bill to reauthorize SCHIP. I had a number of concerns with the bill and, therefore, I voted against this particular reauthorization. H.R. 976 included a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP, funded by increased taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The bill also allows for states to continue insuring adults and enrolling children in families earning up to $82,600 for a family of four.
On August 1, 2007, the Senate voted on Senate Amendment 2530 to H.R. 976, about which I voted in favor. This amendment, titled the "Kids First Act," would have reauthorized SCHIP by focusing on the program's original intent of insuring low-income children. The amendment would have increased SCHIP funding by over 33 percent, allowing for the addition of over 2 million new low-income children, and ended the enrollment of adults. All of this would have been accomplished without raising taxes . The amendment failed 61-35 .
The American people are already overburdened with excessive taxes and this bill created new and additional ones . SCHIP was intended for children, but f or every dollar spent on adults through this program, that is one fewer dollar available to a child. I have been a staunch supporter of SCHIP and PeachCare , and believe it is imperative that we continue providing quality health insurance for children of Georgia and across the country, but I regret that I could not support it in this form.
TampaSupremo
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) established the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The program offers federal matching funds to states to provide health insurance to certain low-income children. Annual state allotments are determined by a formula that is based on the number of low-income children and low-income uninsured children in each state.
The latest official numbers show that SCHIP provides health benefits for nearly 4.5 million children nationally. Of this total, over 3.2 million were covered in separate state programs, such as PeachCare for Kids in Georgia . PeachCare , which currently has over 290,000 enrollees, is designed to provide comprehensive health care to Georgia children through the age of 18 who do not qualify for Medicaid and live in households with incomes at or below 235 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). In Georgia , a family of three may earn up to $40,000 a year and a family of four up to $48,500 a year and still qualify for healthcare coverage for their children in PeachCare .
On August 2, 2007, the Senate passed H.R. 976, a bill to reauthorize SCHIP. I had a number of concerns with the bill and, therefore, I voted against this particular reauthorization. H.R. 976 included a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP, funded by increased taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The bill also allows for states to continue insuring adults and enrolling children in families earning up to $82,600 for a family of four.
On August 1, 2007, the Senate voted on Senate Amendment 2530 to H.R. 976, about which I voted in favor. This amendment, titled the "Kids First Act," would have reauthorized SCHIP by focusing on the program's original intent of insuring low-income children. The amendment would have increased SCHIP funding by over 33 percent, allowing for the addition of over 2 million new low-income children, and ended the enrollment of adults. All of this would have been accomplished without raising taxes . The amendment failed 61-35 .
The American people are already overburdened with excessive taxes and this bill created new and additional ones . SCHIP was intended for children, but f or every dollar spent on adults through this program, that is one fewer dollar available to a child. I have been a staunch supporter of SCHIP and PeachCare , and believe it is imperative that we continue providing quality health insurance for children of Georgia and across the country, but I regret that I could not support it in this form.
TampaSupremo