78R7898 CME-D

By:  Capelo                                                     H.C.R. No. 81 



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The Texas Cooperative Extension at Texas A&M 
University reports there are 1.4 million uninsured children living 
in Texas, representing 25 percent of all children in the state; 
according to data available in 2000, Texas had the second highest 
rate of uninsured children in the country, exceeding the national 
average by more than two times; and
	WHEREAS, Contributing to this high rate of uninsured children 
is the fact that 28.6 percent of Texas children live in families 
with income below the federal poverty guidelines, while 51.4 
percent of the total live in families earning below 200 percent of 
poverty income levels; in addition, health care costs have risen 
dramatically in the past few years, resulting in higher insurance 
premiums and making affordable coverage difficult for low-income 
families to find; and
	WHEREAS, While the rising cost of health care has hindered 
the ability of parents to purchase private insurance coverage for 
their families, it has also stymied the ability of many employers to 
provide coverage for their employees, let alone the employees' 
families; for example, it costs $2,100 a year to purchase insurance 
for an individual employee through the state's pool for small 
businesses and more than $5,200 a year to insure the employee's 
whole family; for an employee earning $7 an hour, this increases the 
cost of employing that person by 15 to 37 percent; and
	WHEREAS, Given these increased costs, it is not surprising 
that affordable health insurance is conspicuously unavailable to 
many working parents; 88 percent of uninsured children in Texas 
have parents who work part-time, and 63 percent have a parent who 
works full-time, during all or part of the year; and
	WHEREAS, Aiming to reverse these disturbing trends, the 
United States Congress enacted the state Children's Health 
Insurance Program in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997; this landmark 
legislation allocated $40 billion in federal matching funds over 10 
years to states that implemented a children's health insurance 
program; and
	WHEREAS, Recognizing the urgency of the situation and 
responding to the action of the congress, the 76th Texas 
Legislature passed Senate Bill 445 implementing the Texas 
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); Texas CHIP provides 
comprehensive health care coverage to children newborn through 18 
years of age who are not eligible for Medicaid and who live in 
families with a net income at or below 200 percent of the federal 
poverty guideline; and
	WHEREAS, Senate Bill 445 provided that Texas CHIP be funded 
with the first money available each fiscal year as a result of the 
Comprehensive Settlement Agreement and Release filed in the case of 
The State of Texas v. The American Tobacco Co., et al; in state 
fiscal year 2002, Texas received more than $530 million in tobacco 
settlement funds; and
	WHEREAS, With the recent economic downturn threatening the 
financial security of Texas families and further jeopardizing the 
ability of parents to provide health insurance for their children, 
Texas CHIP has become more critical than ever to the health and 
well-being of Texas children; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas 
reaffirm its intention that the tobacco settlement money available 
each fiscal year be used to fully fund Texas' Children's Health 
Insurance Program.