WASHINGTON, DC - The House of Representatives today passed H.R. 3922, the CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act, by a vote of 242-174. H.R. 3922 provides funding extensions of vital, popular public health programs, including:
* A five-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
* A two-year extension of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) or Community Health Centers
* A two-year extension for additional public health programs, including: The National Health Service Corps, Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, the Youth Empowerment Program, and the Personal Responsibility Education Program.
H.R. 3922 also provides $1 billion for the Medicaid programs in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to address existing shortfalls, and eliminates the FY2018 and FY2019 Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) reduction as included in the Affordable Care Act.
“Today, more than 8 million low-income children across our country depend on CHIP for many of their health care services, such as routine doctor’s visits, immunizations, prescription medications, and dental care," said #SubHealth Chairman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX). “…An extension through fiscal year 2022 will provide financial stability for every state’s CHIP program and certainty for children and their families."
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) also addressed the lackluster negotiations with committee democrats, saying, “Funding for these important programs expired on September 30. The committee worked on a bipartisan basis, well before this deadline, to try and reach a bipartisan agreement on a range of policies to offset the costs of this critically important funding extension. Three times we delayed committee action, at the request of the minority, to try to find agreeable offsets. …While states still have rollover CHIP funds available and the next wave of community health center funds won’t go out until next year, we cannot wait any longer. Patients cannot wait any longer."
H.R. 3922 is paid for using a number of commonsense offsets, that will: modernize and strengthen Medicaid’s third-party liability requirements, disenroll lottery jackpot winners from Medicaid to prioritize the most vulnerable, reduce federal subsidies for seniors earning more than $500,000 each year (or $40,000 each month) by limiting government contributions for their Part B and D premiums, roll back the ACA’s grace period requirements to prevent individuals from gaming the system, and redirect Prevention and Public Health Fund dollars to public health programs that have proven successful and earned broad, bipartisan support in Congress.
Groups supporting H.R. 3922 include:
Alliance of Specialty Medicine
American Association of Teaching Health Centers
America’s Essential Hospitals
America’s Health Insurance Plans
American Hospital Association
Ascend
Association for Community Affiliated Plans
BlueCross BlueShield Association
Council for Affordable Health Coverage
Federation of American Hospitals
Healthcare Leadership Council
Louisiana Hospital Association
Medicaid Health Plans of America
Missouri Hospital Association
Salud USA
Texas Hospital Association
Wisconsin Hospital Association