Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Lawmakers Disagree On SCHIP Funding
The State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was created by Congress in 1997 to provide healthcare to uninsured children. When it was passed, legislators gave the program 10 years of funding.
Now that the money is starting to run out for the hugely successful SCHIP programs across the country, the Senate Finance Committee will soon meet to reauthorize and refund it.
Federal, state, and executive lawmakers agree SCHIP should keep going, but there’s no consensus on how much funding it should receive.
Many state lawmakers, state Governors in particular, want more funding for SCHIP to expand coverage to more children, more families, and to children of legal aliens. They also want to repeal a provision that denies SCHIP coverage for state employees.
But the Bush administration has made it clear they want to bring SCHIP back to its original course, exclusively covering uninsured children with incomes only up to 200% of the federal poverty level.
Most states disagree. They want SCHIP extended to more people with higher incomes.
“It is my goal to cover every uninsured child in California under 300% of the federal poverty limit using SCHIP funds,” wrote Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter to the Finance Committee.
Proponents of reducing the maximum income level for SCHIP eligibility, such as the Bush administration, contend higher maximums gives families a disincentive to find private coverage. They predict it would hurt the competitive market.
On the other hand, private health insurance prices are skyrocketing. Many Americans with higher incomes still can’t afford private coverage. That’s why states such as New Jersey want to expand SCHIP for families up to 350% of the poverty level.
“In New Jersey, with the high cost of living, certainly these are not rich families,” said director of New Jersey’s SCHIP program, Ann C. Kohler.
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