JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO FULLY FUND THE STATE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the First Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President and the Congress of the United States, as follows:

WHEREAS,  the State of Maine and at least 13 other states have used up much of the federal subsidies for child health care even though the fiscal year is still not ended, due in part to the great need for these funds and also to the inadequate formula by which the money is apportioned; and

WHEREAS,  the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, was started by Congress in 1998 and is funded by a combination of federal and state funds, as well as by the premiums of participants; and

WHEREAS,  the program was envisioned as a way to provide health insurance to the children of the working poor and the current budget is $5.5 billion, which is about $745 million short of the needs of the states; and

WHEREAS,  the State of Maine has used its SCHIP funds to help significantly with MaineCare, which has provided valuable and important health care to more than 14,850 children in our State, and without additional federal aid 3,500 to 4,000 Maine children will go uninsured; and

WHEREAS,   the State of Maine needs at least $6,500,000 to help the children at risk and to keep our children healthy, and other states have needs just as important; now therefore be it

That We, your Memorialists, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to request that the State Children’s Health Insurance Program be fully funded not only for the children of the State of Maine, but for all of the children of the working poor in the United States; and be it further

That official copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to President George W. Bush, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate and to each member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.