There are currently 48 million Americans without health insurance, a large number of whom are children. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, enacted a decade ago - intended to help kids whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but who have neither employer-paid insurance nor private health care policies - is now up for renewal.
This very successful program has broad bi-partisan support, but President Bush has threatened to veto, apparently, because SCHIP might work better than private insurance. "My concern is that when you expand eligibility...you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government," Bush told the Washington Post Monday.
The House legislation, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection or CHAMP Act, was passed along party lines Aug. 6 with a vote of 225-204. It authorizes an additional $50 billion in health care coverage over five years, benefiting 6 million children currently covered by SCHIP and an additional 5 million additional low-income children who are eligible but not receiving care due to funding shortfalls.
The senate version of the bill, authored by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus and Republican Sens. Charles Grassley and Orrin Hatch, passed the following day, 68-31, and authorized a more modest $35 billion increase over the next five years. Eighteen GOP senators joined 220 Democrats in voting for the increased budget.
President Bush’s proposal, however, would increase SCHIP by just $5 billion, which would not even insure the same number of children it does now.
Though opponents claim the state health insurance is too expensive, it actually costs less than $3.50 per day per child and provides preventive care that often reduces the need for emergency room care. The CHAMP Act is a public-private, state-federal partnership that gives states flexibility to deliver services that fit the needs of that state’s residents.
The CHAMP bill cuts federal payments to private insurers covering disabled and elderly patients and moves funds to physicians and low-income benefits, which is more cost-effective. Payments to Medicare HMOs increase premiums for the elderly by inflating costs by an average of 12 percent, the Washington Post reported. The balance of the money for SCHIP coverage under the CHAMP bill will be raised through a hefty tax on cigarette sales.
The CHAMP Act is even endorsed by the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, among others.
The bill is due to expire September 30, unless authorized by Congress and the president. As Michael Moore’s recent movie, "Sicko," showed, health care in the United States is about profit. Follow the money to see why anyone would vote against a bill that clearly benefits children and the physicians that care for them, while penalizing smokers – and perhaps encouraging them to quit - and making the health care system more accountable.
According to Carole Joeffe who wrote about SCHIP on the AlterNet, the Senate bill would cost less in the next five years than the United States will spend on the Iraq war in the next four months.
A conference committee must decide on a compromise at the end of August.
Please visit ACORN's Take Action page www.acorn.org/takeaction to send letters to Congress, telling to stand firm and override a possible Bush veto.