| Fourteen governors are very worried. Their states are exhausting their allotment of federal money for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which typically covers poor children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid -- "the working poor." With current eligibility rules and benefits, states need more money to cover the uninsured children who qualify. The program covers 535,000 children in New Jersey alone, along with 76,000 of their parents.
So what's the White House doing to ease the governors' fears? Rescinding coverage from children across the country. In his budget this month, [President] Bush said he wanted to return the program to its "original objective" of covering children with family incomes less than twice the poverty level. Budget documents note that 16 states cover children above that level and that "one state, New Jersey, covers children up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level."
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Bush administration officials emphasized that states received a fixed amount of federal money each year, and they said individual children did not have a legal entitlement to benefits. Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of health and human services, said he would work with Congress to find "a short-term solution" for states exhausting their allotments this year. He said states could avoid shortfalls by managing their programs better. How can they manager their programs better? The Bush administration has a few ideas: change your rules and benefits and drop healthcare for millions of children in families above 200% of the poverty level. Mission accomplished. Heckuva job.
The governors don't much like the sound of that, but they're powerless over the federal funds they need to keep up the programs. They need an ally in Congress.
Enter New Jersey's own, Rep. Frank Pallone: Chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, with authority over the children's program. The subcommittee will draft S-CHIP's five year extension this spring.
Pallone says he will fight to fully fund CHIP and ensure there are no shortfalls -- even after extending it to another eligible 9 million uninsured children nationwide. The President's plan means to continue S-CHIP along on its current path (read: continuing budget shortfalls and constant decreases in coverage). To that, Pallone said, "I have absolutely no intention of moving the president's proposals through our subcommittee."
Pallone will be talking about funding S-CHIP tomorrow morning on the Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC. Make us proud, Frank. |
