Child advocates hail insurance expansion
By Emily Bregel ebregel@timesfreepress.com
Online: Hear Laurie Lee of Cover Tennessee comment on the SCHIP expansion. Comment. Advocates for children in Tennessee are praising Wednesday’s passage of a federal bill that expands access to health insurance for lowincome children. “I think it’s a huge leap forward for us,” said Kathy Daniels, regional coordinator for the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, a state agency that advocates for children’s well-being. “It shows that the legislators are stepping up the plate and recognizing that we have to invest in our children, and they have to be safe and healthy before they can learn.” President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday that reauthorizes and expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, allowing 4 million more children to get
health coverage. The expansion will cost $32.8 billion over 4 1/2 years, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Critics of the bill, including Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., argue that the expanded eligibility criteria will make many children who already are covered under private insurance eligible for the federally funded program. Some protest provisions that critics say may allow undocumented immigrants to receive health care coverage. Rep. Wamp said in a statement this month that the bill “is a considerable expansion of the SCHIP program that will raise taxes, substitute private health insurance coverage with government-run health care and make it easier for illegal immigrants to get health care coverage at taxpayer expense.” In Tennessee, the funds will benefit CoverKids, the name for the state’s SCHIP program. The state program, part of Cover Tennessee, now provides comprehensive health coverage, including dental care, to more than 32,000 children. Under the new legislation, children in families earning up to three times the federal poverty level can qualify for SCHIP programs. CoverKids now provides coverage for free for children of families making up to 250 percent of the poverty level, and those making more can buy coverage through the program, said Laurie Lee, executive director of Cover Tennessee. “This is something we’ve been waiting for, the SCHIP reauthorization, so we are delighted that it passed, and we are anxious to start evaluating what the additional provisions might mean for our program,” Ms. Lee said. About 125,000 children are uninsured in the state, said Kathy Wood-Dobbins, CEO of the Tennessee Primary Care Association in Nashville. “One thing that will be important will be outreach to children that are not enrolled,” she said. The SCHIP legislation also provides Tennessee with $30 million a year in disproportionate share funding for the next two years, to help Tennessee hospitals that disproportionately care for Medicaid and uninsured patients, such as Erlanger hospital. “While (the SCHIP bill) doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of growing uncompensated care at safety net hospitals like Erlanger, it is certainly a move in the right direction,” Erlanger President and CEO Jim Brexler said in an e-mail statement.
