Pelosi: 'We Will Keep Fighting Next Year to Cover 10 Million Children and Improve Benefits for Low-Incom...( WASHINGTON Dec. 19 -- Speaker Na...),Health

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on House passage of S. 2499, the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act. The bill, which extends SCHIP through March 31, 2009 and provides additional funding to ensure that no children currently enrolled will be dropped from their coverage, will now be sent to the President for his signature into law:

"While President Bush and a small Republican minority in the House succeeded in blocking the SCHIP bill this year, our bipartisan coalition in Congress will not stop fighting until we reach our goal -- health care for 10 million American children.

"The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act was made necessary by Republican obstructionism. The bill will preserve coverage for children currently enrolled in SCHIP, delay harmful, Administration-proposed Medicaid regulations that would have made it more difficult for states to provide coverage to children and undermined coverage for people with disabilities, and will reverse planned physician reimbursement cuts that could have harmed Medicare coverage for seniors.

"We will keep fighting next year to cover 10 million children, improve benefits for low-income seniors, expand Medicare coverage and include preventive services, and prevent Administration efforts that would make it harder for states to provide health coverage to more Americans."