The Issue:
On October 3, 2007, President Bush vetoed legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) by $35 billion over the next five years. This expansion, which enjoyed bi-partisan support in both the House and the Senate, as well as among groups as diverse as the NAACP and industry groups representing insurers (the American Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP) and doctors (the American Medical Association) would have covered not only the 6 million children already enrolled in S-CHIP, but would have allowed almost 6 million more American children to benefit from the program.
Since 1997, S-CHIP has significantly improved American children’s access to health care, and has made significant strides in covering racial and ethnic minority children. Initially S-CHIP provided $40 billion to states to provide health care coverage to children who lived in families that earned too much to qualify for Medicare but too little to afford private health insurance. Since its adoption, S-CHIP has reduced dramatically (by a third) the number of America’s uninsured children. Racial and ethnic minority children have especially benefited from this program; since 1997, the rate of uninsured African American children dropped by almost half; from 20% to 12%; the rate of uninsured Asian and Pacific Islander children has also been cut in half, from 17% to 8%. The rate of uninsured Latino children has gone from 30% to 21%. Because of S-CHIP, approximately 6 million children currently have access to vital health care services including screening and prevention services that help them stay healthy and grow to be strong and productive adults.
Despite these successes, there is still work to be done. Nine million children in our nation remain uninsured today; more than 5 million of them are racial or ethnic minorities. Nearly three-quarters of them are eligible for either Medicare or SCHIP, yet they are not enrolled in either program. While enough Senators supported the final version of the bill (67), the House of Representatives fell about 20 votes short of a veto-proof margin (two thirds of those voting, or 289 if all Members are present are needed to override a veto), passing it 265 – 159. Thus we need to encourage all Americans to contact their elected Senators and Representatives as soon as possible and ask them to vote to override the President’s veto of this important program.
NAACP National Headquarters
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore MD 21215
Toll Free:
(877) NAACP-98
Local:
(410) 580-5777
© 2006 NAACP
All Rights Reserved
Leadership 500 Summit - Scottsdale, AZ
Leadership 500 Summit - Scottsdale, AZ