May 2007

 

Dear Member of Congress,

 

We the undersigned organizations urge you to support proposed legislation granting states the option to cover lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid.  This legislation, the “Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act” (ICHIA, S.764, H.R.1308), would go far in restoring equity to the coverage of uninsured children and should be an essential component of this year’s SCHIP reauthorization.

 

ICHIA has a history of strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as long-standing support from organizations such as the undersigned.  The National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislators as well as every major state and local government organization have endorsed this policy change.

 

Under current law, lawfully residing pregnant women and children who have entered the country since August 22, 1996 are barred from Medicaid and SCHIP for five years.  This restriction has increased racial and ethnic health disparities among children in the U.S.  While SCHIP and Medicaid expansions have increased insurance coverage for citizen children over the past decade, coverage for low-income immigrant children has fallen further behind.  This is true even though many states with the greatest numbers of immigrant children have chosen to extend health coverage to them using state funds, recognizing that SCHIP and Medicaid are vital supports.  Providing a state option to restore access would encourage more states to cover immigrant children and would give fiscal redress to the states that are already doing so.

 

Research by the Urban Institute shows that immigrant children are much less likely to obtain medical care than native-born children.  Failing to provide basic preventive care for immigrant children jeopardizes their health and creates a need for more expensive subsequent care.  Similarly, failing to provide prenatal care risks the health of newborn U.S. citizens and increases the need for costly medical interventions after birth.   

 

It is not only fiscally unwise but also arbitrary and fundamentally unfair to deny health coverage to immigrant children and pregnant women because of the date they arrived in the U.S.  Legal resident families contribute to the fabric of their communities.  Their members pay taxes that support public health insurance programs, and they serve in the military, defending and dying for our country.  Despite immigrants’ high rate of employment, almost half of low-income immigrant children are uninsured, a rate three times higher than that of children from native-born families.  That is why any serious commitment to "covering all kids," to reducing health disparities, or to increasing the enrollment of low-income children and pregnant women in SCHIP and Medicaid, must redress the arbitrary exclusion of lawfully residing immigrants from these programs. 

 

We look forward to working with you to pass ICHIA as a critical part of reauthorizing the SCHIP Program.