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Bush Urges Governors to Back Tax Reforms
The program, approved in 1997, covers uninsured children whose families earn too much to fall under Medicaid, the joint state-federal health care service for the poor.
More than a dozen states have expanded SCHIP, with consent of the federal government, to cover adults in those families. The program now insures an estimated 639,000 adults among its 6 million.
  President Bush, second from left, addresses the National Governors Association (NGA), Monday, Feb. 26, 2007, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. From left are, NGA Chairwoman, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the president, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP) |
Many governors said the administration's efforts to scale back the program would undermine state efforts to craft universal health care plans. Many of these have started with a target of insuring all children.
California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have developed some of the most ambitious proposals to try to get to universal health care coverage. Most states have just tried to strengthen their health care system to cover more people.
At their private session Sunday, governors said there was bipartisan support for help on the immediate needs and a long-term commitment to the current program.
Leavitt said Sunday that there is enough money among states to cover short-term shortfalls, if states with surpluses would share with those with deficits, an idea that has little support among governors. Bush wants SCHIP to remain focused on poor children, not all children and not adults, Leavitt said.
Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., said he was confident that a compromise on the money can be found. He said the administration has been helpful to his efforts to expand coverage and approved a waiver that would let the state cover 180,000 more children. "I want to give the administration high praise," he said.
But most were worried. In Rhode Island, GOP Gov. Don Carcieri said aggressive enrollment efforts had boosted their combined Medicaid and SCHIP program so that 94 percent of children were covered, at its height, before administrative hurdles and other problems caused some backsliding.
"We built all that up," Carcieri said. "We don't want to pull the rug out."
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On the Net:
State Children's Health Insurance Program: http:/
National Governors Association: http:/
