Kids Could Lose Health Insurance

While there have been many propositions put forth lately that stress the need to make sure that at least every child in the country has adequate access to affordable health insurance, the government program that currently funds State run programs to provide health insurance to children of poor families, is facing another huge shortfall and is scheduled to terminate entirely this September. Some States are saying if Congress does not act soon to renew the program or provide funding for a new program they will no longer be able to insure children under the State Children’s Heath Insurance Plan or SCHIP.

Southern Sates like Georgia have been hit severely by the crisis. Part of the problem is that the Federal Government is basing how much it provides to States based on very old Census data. States such as Georgia have seen a recent very large influx in uninsured children as the result of refugees fleeing Louisiana and other Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Government has not taken these numbers into account as they allocate funds for their States PeachCare program, which is no longer enrolling new children even if they and their families are eligible for the health insurance program, because of a 130 million dollar short fall.

Many other States have already used up their annual federal subsidiary for SCHIP, even though we are not even halfway through the current fiscal year. Prompting state level efforts to try to keep the programs going and kids insured. In Iowa where they not only want to continue to fund the program for the kids currently enrolled, the want to see the thousands of children who are eligible to enroll but have not, gotten into the system. They have proposed an increase in a cigarette tax to pay of it. The SCHIP program was designed to provide affordable medical coverage to children in a given State whose families do not qualify for Medicaid, but make too little to afford to purchase private medical insurance coverage. Some states are trying to legislate changes in who qualifies for Medicaid and get more of the uninsured children on the Medicaid rolls instead of being covered by dwindling SCHIP funds. Other States are trying to reallocate dollars from other State programs.  Besides Georgia and Iowa the States claiming that they will run out of money for their programs before the next Fiscal year regardless of however Congress decides to renew or refinance SCHIP are Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Alaska. Georgia says unless they receive some kind of immediate relief they will run out of funding by the end of this month.

Meanwhile working mothers like Carol Martin who lives in a suburb of Atlanta with two Asthmatic children and relies on PeachCare for their medical insurance and treatment, faces the very really possibility of no longer having medical coverage for her children. Says Carol "If taking care of kids health is not your priority then what is?"