First Focus on Children told the Senate Budget Committee that H.R. 1 is disrupting health care coverage for the more than 35 million children who depend on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and that the Committee and all federal policy makers must focus on the careful stewardship of the programs, including rigorous oversight of how H.R. 1 is impacting children’s coverage and access to care.
“We are therefore deeply concerned by recent efforts focused on restricting large swaths of federal Medicaid funding under the banner of combating ‘fraud,’ which threaten to further destabilize children’s health care,” First Focus on Children wrote in a statement for the record for the August 4 hearing titled ‘Medicaid: The Reality’. “When federal spending on children is already near historic lows and falling, further reductions do not trim excess — they cut into a share that was never commensurate with children’s numbers, their needs, or our collective future. We respectfully urge this Committee to reject any measure that would further diminish children’s access to health care and, instead, focus on how to uphold our nation’s commitment to the health of our children. A healthy and stronger young generation is in all of our interest.”