July 21, 2000

I'm pleased to be here today with my colleagues in the House John Dingell and Sherrod Brown, and with Senators Kennedy and Rockefeller, to introduce legislation which will take this nation the next significant step in providing health care coverage to uninsured Americans.

This bill, "The FamilyCare Act of 2000", builds on the model of the Child Health Insurance Program, CHIP, to expand the partnership of the Federal government and the States to provide health insurance coverage for low and moderate income parents.

We have 44 million uninsured people in the United States.  That is more than simply a situation that is unacceptable–it is a tragic failure in public policy.  Even worse, it is a problem that continues to grow.   This bill can provide coverage that can make a significant dent in that.

This is a bill that is targeted at a group that needs coverage.  And unlike many of the tax measures favored by some of our Republican colleagues, it is a bill that is designed to provide coverage.  The dollars are spent on health care services for previously uninsured people.  We don't waste resources by giving tax dollars back to people who are already insured–we direct these dollars to people who need help–and we assure they get it.

We know that CHIP has been a program that has brought health insurance coverage to millions of previously uninsured children.  But we also know that there is much more to do.  Millions of kids remain uninsured, even though they are eligible for CHIP or Medicaid.  We need to do better at finding them.  We need to do a better job of getting them into coverage.  This bill will provide some extra tools for States to do a better job at that.

But I also want to stress this: we know States need the Federal dollars we have committed to them to provide coverage for kids.   We are not dipping into CHIP dollars that will pay for health care for the millions of children who still have not been brought into coverage.  We are committing additional Federal support to extend coverage to their uninsured parents.

That is good in and of itself.  And bringing the whole family into coverage can help us to more effectively find and cover those children we've targeted under CHIP.  We win on both counts.

We have a surplus available.  We have millions of uninsured people.  We know the people who are most likely to be uninsured, and we have the programs in place that can provide coverage to them.  All we have to do is take the next step.

President Clinton and Vice-President Gore have laid out the blueprint.  This legislation that we introduce today is designed to make that vision a reality.