THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                            (Ankara, Turkey)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  November 15, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today, I am proud to announce a new rule that will make it easier for children to get health insurance coverage -- and tougher for non-custodial parents to avoid paying for it. This regulation, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, streamlines the process of holding non-custodial parents to child support agreements that require them to provide for their children's health care needs. The Department of Labor also published a companion regulation today providing guidance to group health plans about this new process. With these rules, we are helping to guarantee that children get the health insurance they have been promised.

These new steps build on my Administration's longstanding commitment to effective child support enforcement. Since 1992, collections have increased by 80 percent, and the number of families receiving support has increased by 60 percent. Just last year, approximately 2.8 million parents delinquent in child support payments were identified, and child support enforcement measures that I signed into law are projected to increase collections by billions of dollars over the next 10 years. We all have a responsibility for the well being of the next generation. Today's action helps ensure that parents paying child support meet that responsibility.

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