...enough to allow the program to insure 33,000 more children.
Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the increase in funding, part of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). Under the federal act, New Jersey's allotment will be increased from $102 million to $505 million, a 400 percent increase, according to the HHS press statement.
Here are some more numbers on the success of the program thus far and the need that still exists:
The children's health program in New Jersey is called NJ FamilyCare, and it covers children in families with up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level, or $77,175 for a family of four. Families pay premiums based on their income.
During fiscal year 2008, more than 151,000 children were enrolled in the CHIP program in NJ.
In April, Corzine announced an "Express Lane Application" to streamline the application process. New Jersey has identified nearly 280,000 households with 450,000 children who have reported that they do not have health insurance coverage.
Here is video of the Governor's visit with Sibelius:
This landmark legislation will expand health coverage to 11 million uninsured kids through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - up from 7.04 million last year. In New Jersey, we'll be able to reach an additional 116,000 children through FamilyCare - reducing the ranks of uninsured children by a substantial 43 percent.
President Obama signing the CHIP bill.
It's only been a month since our new Congress got to work and less than three weeks since President Obama took the oath of office. Yet, already our new Democratic majorities are bringing about real, lasting change for our families. Thanks to this new law, nearly four million more American children will have better access to quality healthcare. And there is no doubt these kids will now have a far better chance to live healthy and productive lives.
High-quality, affordable healthcare is not a luxury -- it is both a necessity and a right. In Congress, I'm fighting so everyone has access to the medicine and care they deserve. And when it comes to this right, the health of our children should be our top priority. That's why I was proud to help create the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) over ten years ago. Today, CHIP provides health care coverage to six million children nationwide who would otherwise be uninsured.
Over the past two years, as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, I worked hard to make sure we passed legislation expanding and strengthening CHIP so that we could cover 10 million low-income children.
Unfortunately, President Bush blocked our efforts, not once, but twice. He vetoed legislation giving states the resources they needed to both maintain current enrollment levels and add an additional four million children to the rolls of the insured. Instead of working cooperatively with Congress to develop a bipartisan compromise that would build CHIP up for future generations of children, President Bush set out to completely tear it down.
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."
.....
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.
