Rep. Andrews Helps Increase Funding for Critical Children’s Healthcare Program

As a member of the Budget Committee, I have helped to obtain healthcare funding that could cover as many as an additional 4-5 million uninsured children across our nation.  The House Budget Committee’s recently-released budget for FY 2008 includes $50 billion over 5 years for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  This funding is an important first step toward solving our national healthcare crisis and ensuring a healthy future for the next generation of Americans. 

The President’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget would be disastrous for many of the 127,000 children in New Jersey who rely on SCHIP for healthcare.  Last year, New Jersey alone received $105 million of the $5 billion allocated for SCHIP, so the uninsured children in our state stand to gain significantly from the Democrat’s increase in funding. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that under the President’s proposed budget, as many as 1.6 million people who receive healthcare coverage from SCHIP would lose it over 5 years, including 1.4 million children and pregnant women.  The Democrats’ proposed increase would fund SCHIP at $10 billion each year for five years, doubling over last year’s budget for the program. 

I applaud the Budget Committee for drafting a budget that makes children’s healthcare a national priority.  Rest assured that I will continue my work to fix our nation’s broken healthcare system and to provide health insurance to those who need it most: our children. 

Return to the Washington Updates Page