"Some states move to insure more children; Efforts made despite budgets facing shortfalls" by Kevin Sack, New York Times | July 19, 2009
NEW YORK - Despite recession-racked budgets, at least 13 states have invested millions of dollars this year in making more children eligible for subsidized government health insurance, enabling coverage for an additional 250,000 youngsters.
The expansions have come in the five months since Congress and President Obama used the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to increase its funding and encourage states to increase enrollment. Although the federal government covers the majority of the cost, states set their own eligibility levels and must decide whether to spend state money to draw even more from Washington.
The states’ willingness to spend, even under excruciating budget pressures, is a measure of the support for expanding healthcare coverage to the uninsured as Congress and the Obama administration intensify their negotiations over a new federal healthcare bill. But a number of states decided that their depleted coffers did not allow them to insure additional children, even as a minority partner. Several either deferred previously scheduled eligibility expansions or saw their legislatures defeat efforts to broaden coverage.
Even the fact that there is one child (never mind an adult) without healthcare is a scandal.
Oh, I forgot, they aren't old enough to run a bank yet.
In Arizona, only opposition from Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, prevented lawmakers in her own party from narrowing eligibility. And in California, where Democratic legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, are struggling to close a large budget gap, the state imposed a freeze on new enrollments last week.
California officials estimate that up to 350,000 eligible children may be relegated to a waiting list, and that attrition could lower enrollment by 250,000 by June. If money is not found, the losses there may overwhelm the cumulative gains in other states.
Yeah, those icky Repuglicans as opposed to the tax-wasting DemocraPs!
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the potential for major reductions in California was “a huge concern.’’ But overall, she said, the Obama administration was “very pleased that even in what are some of the worst budget times in a very long time, children’s health insurance continues to be an absolute top priority.’’
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, has been politically popular since its enactment in 1997 because it benefits working families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance.
In many states, eligibility expansions have passed with solid bipartisan support. In one of her final acts as governor of Kansas in April, Sebelius, a Democrat, signed a two-year expansion worth $4.4 million that had been approved by her overwhelmingly Republican Legislature.
The federal legislation, which extended the program through 2013, provided $32.8 billion in new funding over that period, financed through an increase in tobacco taxes. On the day Obama signed the bill, he also rescinded a Bush administration directive that effectively made it impossible for states to raise their eligibility limits above 250 percent of the poverty level.
The new law allows states to provide coverage to children from families living at up to three times the poverty level. States can set thresholds higher if they wish, but will be reimbursed by the federal government at a lower rate - the same paid for Medicaid recipients. Massachusetts already operates under a federal waiver that extends coverage to children in families that earn up to 300 percent of the poverty level, and that has helped the state make sure nearly all children have health insurance.
Other states, including New York and New Jersey, were already enrolling children above three times the poverty level, but the federal legislation and the rescinding of the Bush directive made it possible for about 40 states to broaden eligibility. Forty-eight states faced budget shortfalls this year, totaling $121.2 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Stimulus paid off some of those, which means the stimulus money went to... BANKS?
But in those that have managed to expand eligibility, governors and legislators said they viewed SCHIP as a cost-effective investment.
Then WHY ISN'T SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE a...., oh, right, NO PROFIT!
“In a downturn, the number of people who need the safety net increases,’’ said Governor Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, a Democrat, whose state levied $600 million in fees on hospitals, some of which will be used to cover an additional 21,000 children. In Alabama, Democratic legislators overrode the veto of Governor Bob Riley, a Republican, to extend coverage to 14,000 children at an additional cost to the state of $8 million.
Other states expanding eligibility include Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and West Virginia. Ohio passed a budget last week that includes an expansion, but its financing depends on the resolution of a court case. Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin, which had been paying for expansions with state money, are now applying for federal matching funds.
Which is great!
I mean, I want ALL the KIDS COVERED -- as well as ALL ADULTS and ANYONE WHO NEEDS CARE!
--more--"
