State Children’s Health Insurance Program is in trouble
So many of us fall between the cracks: not poor enough for Medicaid, but too poor to afford private health insurance. President Bush just vetoed the program that bridges the gap, and now the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is going to go down in flames because our Fearless Leader–and don’t get me started on the list of the tenants of democracy that he has trampled and put in serious jeopardy during his tenure–thinks it’s step towards SOCIALIZED MEDICINE… and people will stop paying for the free market, capitalist health insurance we’re suffering through now… because the SCHIP program takes better care of its customers for less money than the private insurers… does that sound to you like a free market economy at work?
Here’s a quick overview of what the SCHIP program is (full article at Wikipediahere):
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a national program in the United States which provides health insurance for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, yet cannot afford to buy private insurance. The program was created to address the growing number of children in the United States without health insurance. At its creation in 1997, SCHIP was the largest expansion of health insurance coverage for children in the United States since Medicaid began in the 1960s. The statutory authority for SCHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act. Proposals are currently in Congress to expand SCHIP by $35 billion over five years.
SCHIP covered 6.9 million children at some point during Federal fiscal year 2006, and every state has an approved plan. States are given flexibility, and an enhanced match is paid to states. Some states have received Section 1115 demonstration authority to use SCHIP funds to cover the parents of children receiving benefits from both SCHIP and Medicaid, pregnant women, and other adults. However, the program is already facing funding shortfalls in several states.
In 2007, researchers from Brigham Young University and Arizona State found that children who drop out of SCHIP cost states more money because they shift away from routine care to more frequent emergency care situations. The conclusion of the study is that an attempt to cut the costs of a state program could create a false savings because other government organizations pick up the tab for the children who leave SCHIP and later need care. In a 2007 analysis by the Congessional Budget Office, researchers determined that “for every 100 children who gain coverage as a result of SCHIP, there is a corresponding reduction in private coverage of between 25 and 50 children.” The CBO speculates this is because the state programs offer better benefits and lower cost than the private alternatives. The program cost $40 billion federal dollars over 10 years.
There are so few gap programs out there. I think, if you’re a fighting kind of man or woman, you might just want to get out and fight to save this one. Who says only the very wealthy deserve to be healthy? Basic health should be a right everyone shares.
If you want your voice to be heard, MoveOn.org is organizing rallies for Thursday, the 4th of October. Click here to find the rally near you. As of this posting, there are 232 rallies planned. If I can stand up for a few hours after my surgery tomorrow, you know the King of Everything and I will attend one. Come on, single mothers. What do you say?
Thanks to David Gray on Flickr for his photo of Angus the Doctor
Tags: activism, childrens-health-care, health-care, Moms-Rising, MoveOn.org, SCHIP, single-mom, single-mother, State-Childrens-Health-Insurance-ProgramRelated Stories
POSTED IN: PSA, health, political activism
7 opinions for State Children’s Health Insurance Program is in trouble
Insurance Blog » State Children’s Health Insurance Program is in trouble
Oct 3, 2007 at 4:22 pm
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ratphooey
Oct 3, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I wrote my congressman and senators.
christina
Oct 3, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Thanks, lady! I doubt I’ll be able to go to a rally tomorrow but I’ll shout and holler however else I can.
navi
Oct 3, 2007 at 9:39 pm
yes, writing the congresspeople & senators is definitely a good idea, since they should have enough to override the veto. Even those that don’t like the extension think its better than what they could have come up with.
It’s not going down in flames, though. Theres an extension through mid November, they’ll get something approved by then or at least extend existing funding.
The reason’s Bush claimed he vetoed it are all false, and not in the bill. I’m inclined to believe he vetoed it because they planned to use more cigarette taxes to fund it, from the get-go.
buterflymom
Oct 4, 2007 at 11:06 am
i was so upset when this was vetoed. i’m a single mom with one child. i have my daughter on a private insurance after my job (this year) changed my department from employee status to independent contractor so they do not have to pay our benefits. i cannot afford insurance for myselft and pay over 100 per month for my daughter for insurance that doesn’t even kick in until you pay the deductible. i’m waiting to see if i qualify for Healthy Families in California, but previously made TOO much money.
the kicker is……..i work for a hopsital.
socialized medicine isn’t necessiarly a bad thing to work towards, or some sort of combination of the two with a new name.
ratphooey
Oct 4, 2007 at 11:26 am
buterflymom: You are right, socialized medicine (a single-payer system) isn’t a bad thing to work towards. It yields the best outcomes, after all. In fact, the US already has a single-payer system: The VA. And they have the best outcomes in the country, statistically speaking.
The political rightwing in this country has done a great job of framing the debate, but it’s all wrong. It’s not health insurance that everyone needs, but healthCARE. But the insurance lobby is large and powerful (i.e. wealthy). If we cut out the middle man, we could provide superlative care to every American, plus have money left over.
navi
Oct 5, 2007 at 5:37 pm
However SCHIP is far further from socialized insurance than Medicaid is.
SCHIP is government money, which is given to states, which in turn the states use to fund private health coverage for these kids.
In MI, you pay $5/month for Blue Cross/Blue Shield if you qualify.
My family was probably one of those families that was counted as going from private to SCHIP a few years ago. My husband worked in road construction at the time. So we only had insurance about half the year. The other half the year, if we wanted to continue it, it cost $700/month, something that you can’t afford when living on unemployment. So my daughter had SCHIP - or MI Child, in MI - so she had health insurance year round (somehow, unfortunately, when I got pregnant with our second child, we qualified for Medicaid after he was born. It was very disappointing, as the SCHIP program was better insurance).
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