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Congressional Record, April 08, 1997, Page S.2851.
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STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - April 08, 1997)

CHILD HEALTH INSURANCE AND LOWER DEFICIT ACT

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today, Senator Kennedy, I, and a number of others, are introducing the Hatch-Kennedy child health insurance and lower deficit bill, or the CHILD Act, S. 525. We will also introduce a companion measure, S. 526, which contains a tobacco excise tax increase to pay for the program established in the CHILD bill.

The CHILD bill has been negotiated over a long period of time in intensive and sometimes heated negotiations. As anybody can understand, it is difficult to get the two sides together on matters like this. So we have worked very, very hard to try and bring both sides together.

It is no secret that Senator Kennedy and I have worked together in the past. And, we have fought each other in the past. But today is a time of unity, for I believe we have written a bill that really makes sense, a bill that will work and that will help one of the most vulnerable segments of our society, children without health insurance.

Of the 40 million people who are uninsured in this country, 10 million of them are children. Of those 10 million, about 3 million do qualify for Medicaid, but are not enrolled.

While it has its problems, Medicaid is an excellent program overall, a program that does assist the poorest of the poor children and families. But those above the Medicaid eligibility poverty levels, comprise about 7 million children, most of whom are often called the near poor, or the working poor.

Mr. President, as a recent study has made abundantly clear, about one out of three children in this country lacks health insurance. It is a pathetic situation.

As my colleagues are aware, Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry introduced a bill last year which addressed the child health insurance problem from a considerably different perspective than the bill we are finally going to introduce today.

I think it is important to point out the differences for the edification of my colleagues.

The bill we will file today is a bill that is a straight block grant to the States. The States have flexibility to determine their own eligibility standards with minimal Federal requirements.

The proposal is not an entitlement program. It is a fully funded program. It is a 5-year authorization.

The mechanism for funding the CHILD program authorization is an increase in the tobacco excise tax, amounting to 43 cents per package for cigarettes and proportionate increases on other tobacco products. Some have analogized this to a user fee on those who use tobacco products.

We think this excise tax is justified. In 1955, a package of cigarettes cost about 23 cents. Of that amount, 8 cents consisted of a Federal excise tax on the cigarettes.

Today, a package of cigarettes costs almost $2, at least $1.82 in most States, but we have only a 24-cent Federal excise tax on the utilization of those cigarettes.

We think this provision is also justified from a public health perspective.

Smoking is the largest preventable cause of premature death in the United States.

Thirty percent of all cancer patients develop their diseases from smoking. Almost all lung cancer comes from smoking. And much of the cardiovascular disease that we have in our society comes from smoking--including passive smoking as well.

It should be no secret to my colleagues that it was a difficult decision for me to submit a bill which will increase taxes, but after considerable study I concluded in this case it is a just and a right thing to do.

And if we increase the cigarette tax by 43 cents, we will still be below the percentage the excise tax was back in 1955 when a package of cigarettes cost 23 cents and the excise tax was 8 cents of that.

It is important to note that two-thirds of the revenue raised from this bill over the next 5 years will be used for the new child health insurance. The States will be able to negotiate with private health insurance companies to provide coverage, and they will be able to utilize the community health centers which are giving low-cost but high-quality health care in America today.

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