News from Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
For Immediate Release
Contact: Russ Levsen, 202-225-2801
Chip Weiskotten, 202-226-8553

CHILDREN’S HEALTH CARE BILL PASSES HOUSE

Herseth Sandlin Supports Bill that Covers Uninsured Kids in South Dakota; Improves Access to Health Care in Rural America; Rolls Back Cuts to Physicians Under Medicare

August 1, 2007, Washington D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is a strong supporter of the bill, which reauthorizes the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), improves access to health care in rural America, and prevents cuts to physicians under Medicare.

Herseth Sandlin said, “This vital health care package will ensure health care coverage for thousands of otherwise uninsured children in South Dakota and improve the availability and delivery of health care in rural America.”

The CHAMP Act reauthorizes S-CHIP for 6 million children currently covered nationwide and provides additional coverage for 5 million more low-income children – a total of 11 million children. In South Dakota, an average of more than 11,000 children per month are covered under S-CHIP, and thousands of additional eligible children could be included if this bill is signed into law.

S-CHIP is scheduled to expire on September 30th, 2007. Herseth Sandlin said, “If Congress fails to reauthorize S-CHIP, six million children – including thousands in South Dakota – will lose the health care coverage they have right now. Nationwide, millions of children won’t get the preventive care they need and will likely receive care in the more costly environment of emergency rooms, or not at all.”

In addition to reauthorizing S-CHIP, the bill includes important provisions for rural America, as it helps account for the challenges in delivering health care to the less populated, rural regions of the country. The CHAMP Act includes critical extensions of rural Medicare payment policies affecting South Dakotans’ access to doctors, hospitals, and ambulance services.

Herseth Sandlin said, “As a member of the Rural Health Care Coalition, I’ve worked hard to preserve these provisions for rural America, including an extension of Medicare incentive payments for physicians working in underserved areas and an extension of payment increases for ambulance services in rural areas. Similar extensions were included in the comprehensive rural health care package that I helped to introduce with the Coalition earlier this year – and I’m pleased they are reflected in the CHAMP Act.”

The CHAMP Act also includes funding to support reimbursements for physicians under Medicare. The legislative package heads off a drastic 15% cut over the next two years and instead provides physicians with an increase in each of the next two years. This will help keep physicians in the Medicare system and help ensure continued access to quality health care for seniors in South Dakota.

A Kaiser Family Foundation study for 2004-2005 found that nearly 18,000 children in South Dakota lacked health care coverage. Likewise, the Congressional Research Service has reported that from 2003 to 2005 the average annual number of uninsured children in South Dakota was 18,000.

The CHAMP Act is supported by a wide range of health care, seniors’, and children’s advocacy groups, including: AARP, American Medical Association, Catholic Health Association, the March of Dimes, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and National Rural Health Association.

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Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin serves South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats committed to fiscal discipline and strong national security, and is co-chair of the Rural Working Group, which is dedicated to raising the profile of issues important to rural America. She also serves on three committees vital to South Dakota’s interests: Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs and Natural Resources. In the 110th Congress, Rep. Herseth Sandlin was appointed to serve on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.