Analysis: Children's health meanders ahead

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) this week continued on its halting path toward reauthorization.

About 60 advocates rallied outside the Capitol in favor of continuing the program, and a coalition of insurers, employers, providers and consumer groups called for $60 billion in additional funding over the next five years, in advance of committee markups in the House and Senate.

Meanwhile, Democrats and some of their Republican allies have managed to append $175 million to a supplemental Iraq War funding bill to plug the program's year-end shortfall.

But Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, the first state to say it would stop enrolling eligible children due to lack of money, said the state does not need the federal government's help.

Reauthorizing the SCHIP program -- which was created with a 10-year lifespan in 1997 -- is high on the agenda, said Sen. Robert Casey, D-Penn., at the Capitol rally.

"It is my top priority in terms of domestic issues," he said. "It is the top priority -- I believe -- of the Democratic members as well."

SCHIP is a joint federal-state program that provides health insurance coverage to about 6 million children in low-income families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Advocates of the program, and many Democrats, have called for a large increase in funding to cover many of the nation's 9 million uninsured children.

Republicans, who also overwhelmingly favor reauthorization, have called for little or no funding increase and a more limited role for the program.

A Senate committee is scheduled to mark up the SCHIP reauthorization bill this week, and a House committee is expected to mark up the bill next week. Once that process is complete, the bills can move to the House and Senate floor.

"We want to try to do this as quickly as possible," said Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. "We are working with the Senate to design a bill that will pass."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who helped spark the bipartisan compromise that passed the original bill authorizing the program, also spoke in support of the program at the rally.

"Despite coming from different political perspectives, all of us standing here are united in our desire to get (SCHIP) reauthorized this Congress," he said.

A coalition of 14 groups, including drug-maker Pfizer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the health insurance industry and the American Medical Association sent a letter to the House and Senate budget committees urging them to authorize $60 billion in additional funding over the next five years for the program to both maintain current enrollment and expand coverage.

"We recognize the many challenges faced by the committee as it tries to develop a responsible budget," the groups said in the letter. "We believe that, in facing those challenges, expanded health coverage for out nation's uninsured children deserves highest-priority consideration."

Before reauthorization occurs, however, there is already a debate about supplemental funding to help 14 states that face SCHIP budget shortfalls make it to the end of the fiscal year.

Georgia became the first state to run out of money for its PeachCare SCHIP program, due to a $131 million shortfall. Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue unveiled a plan Tuesday that would use Medicaid funds to allow PeachCare to keep enrolling eligible children.

Thirteen states could follow Georgia if additional funds are not authorized by the federal government.

To plug the budget hole, House Democrats and Republican allies have appended $735 million in funding to the 2007 year-end supplemental spending bill that would allocate $100 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Politics aside, the priority is making sure children get healthcare they need, American Federation of Teachers spokeswoman Connie McKenna told United Press International.

"As teachers we see first-hand what happens to kids in school when they cannot get the healthcare they need," McKenna said. "Making sure kids are healthy is important for them and their families, but also for our country."