To Keep America Strong in the Future, Fund Children’s Healthcare Today
by | March 08, 2007
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) turns 10 years old this year, and that is a cause for celebration. Created to help provide health insurance for children whose parents made too much to qualify for Medicaid, yet who could not afford to purchase coverage for their family, SCHIP is undoubtedly one of the most successful Congressional initiatives of the past decade. By matching federal money with state funds, the program has allowed many states to expand coverage initiatives for struggling working families that they would not have been able to pursue without SCHIP. The program has resulted in a 30% decline nationwide in the number of low-income children without health insurance. Because of its success, SCHIP merits strong bipartisan support in Congress. But not everyone is singing “Happy Birthday” to SCHIP. George W. Bush has announced his intention to cut funding for this important program in his latest budget.“It’s a national disgrace that in the world’s most prosperous nation, millions of American children do not have access to the proper health care they need and deserve. The United States is virtually alone among industrialized nations in its failure to offer universal health care. Most kids who don’t have health insurance come from families where the parents are working; this shows that our system is broken. We have a moral obligation to do everything in our power to make universal care a reality--and covering our kids is a critical first step in achieving this goal. Our young people are the future of our nation, and they deserve nothing less than the best care the American medical community has to offer.”
To maintain coverage for the kids currently enrolled in the program, SCHIP needs $15 billion, and it would cost $60 billion to expand coverage to all kids nationwide who are eligible for the program. But Bush only proposes a paltry $5 billion in his latest budget.
He has said he wants to return the program to its “original objective” of covering families who are nearer the poverty limit. But by expanding the income eligibility of their SCHIP plans, states have acknowledged that working families are hit especially hard, particularly in states with high costs of living.
The need for coverage assistance in higher income brackets also underscores the tremendous erosion in employer-sponsored health insurance over the past several years. In 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president, 69% of non-elderly people in the U.S. had employer-sponsored health coverage. Today, that figure has dropped to only 60%.
The Administration that declares “No Child Left Behind” as its slogan should put its money where its mouth is regarding SCHIP. Children without health coverage are more likely to suffer long-term effects of treatable illnesses. This impacts their performance in school and ability to become productive members of society.
If George W. Bush were truly concerned about our future national strength and security, he would fund children’s healthcare coverage today.
Call your Senators and Representative toll-free at 1-800-828-0498, and tell them you want them to fully fund children’s healthcare through SCHIP.
For more information on the plight of uninsured kids and the fight for SCHIP funding, go to http://www.childrenshealthcampaign.org.
