Improving kids' health
Congress should help
Could Colorado become the healthiest state in the nation?
That is the stated goal of the Colorado SCHIP Coalition. The coalition warns it would take a significant increase in state and federal funding for Colorado children's health to achieve it, however.
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The coalition includes 25 agencies that support increased funding from the federal government for SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a federal program that provides $2 in federal money for every dollar the state of Colorado allocates.
SCHIP programs fund health insurance for uninsured children 18 and under whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance — in other words, the working poor.
These "targeted low-income children" reside in families with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level or 50 percent higher than the state's Medicaid eligibility level.
The U.S. Congress must reauthorize the program this year. About $40 billion has been allocated since SCHIP began in 1997. The Bush administration has proposed an increase of about $5 billion for the next five years, for an allotment of $29.8 billion — not enough to maintain current enrollment levels, according to the coalition, let alone give coverage to all the children who are eligible but not enrolled.
The coalition is asking that SCHIP's funding be expanded to $50 billion at the federal level for the next five years.
Children are more likely to stay healthy if covered by health insurance. Preventive care helps ward off more serious problems, and urgent care is available when they need it. And healthy children learn better in school and are more likely to succeed in life.
Financially, affordable coverage through SCHIP for low-income families and pregnant mothers reduces the amount of uncompensated care that doctors and hospitals must provide and lessens cost-shifting that contributes to higher health-care premiums.
Additionally, more people having health insurance also lessens cost-shifting. Figures from the coalition indicate that in 2005, premiums for health insurance obtained through employers cost $934 more for a family, $355 for an individual, to cover the cost of care for the uninsured.
In Colorado, the coalition is working to get full funding for the state's SCHIP plan, Child Health Plan Plus. Currently less than half of the state's eligible children are enrolled. The state's failure to fully fund CHPPlus means that the state actually returns matching money to the federal government — $55 million from 2001 to 2005.
If federal funding were increased, Colorado could assist the 50,000 children in the state who are eligible for but not enrolled in CHPPlus.
Boulder County has 1,477 children enrolled in CHPPlus. Another 4,277 would be eligible but are not enrolled.
Dr. Pete Dawson, a pediatrician at the People's Clinic, sees a host of situations in which kids need care but are unable to pay for it. One little girl with severe allergies was thrown off Medicaid and not covered by CHPPlus. Her parents cannot pay to have her allergies tested to determine treatment.
Also, children who have attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder can do well in school with medication, but it's "a challenge to keep them on it" because of the cost, Dawson said, if they aren't on CHPPlus or Medicaid. The consequence is that children off their medication "mess up at school."
Kelly Dunkin, program officer for the Colorado Health Foundation (www.ColoradoHealth.org), said the coalition hopes such personal stories will help convince federal officials of the need for full funding of SCHIP. We hope Congress is persuaded.
Susan Deans, for the editorial board
