The Bush administration has imposed new rules which could undermine health insurance access for children who come from a number of low-income families. Massachusetts’ state-run health program may find itself short as the rules may pull the carpet on federal funding. Senator Edward Kennedy said on Sunday that he and his party would fight the new rules. Several state officials in various parts of the USA have criticized the new guidelines, which also state that children have to be uninsured for a full year before having access to government subsidized coverage.
Families are reticent to abandon private insurance to get cheaper or superior coverage for their kids because of the waiting periods. Most states require waits much shorter than one year, generally from one to about six months. In 16 states there is no waiting period. Alaska is the only state that has a one-year wait.
State officials fear that these guidelines will leave children whose parent(s) has lost a job or died exposed to no coverage. The majority of state officials believe this new rule will actually increase the number of children nationally without cover.
SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) is rapidly becoming the political child of American politicians. SCHIP covers over six million children throughout the USA, and about 90,000 in the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts, on its own, raised the eligibility to health cover for children whose families earned up to 300% of the national poverty level – for a family of four this is an income of up to $61,950 dollars. Massachusetts’ move brought an extra 14,000 into its health coverage umbrella. The Massachusetts program aims to cover children who live above the poverty level but are not entitled to Medicaid.
The new rules brought in by the Bush administration could block those children whose household income is 250% above the national poverty level, about 4,500 children so far in Massachusetts – there may be many more who have not yet enrolled.
Most other US states have been watching Massachusetts’ move towards universal health coverage with interest. 17 states have been moving in a similar direction, while many others are seriously considering doing so. People say the Bush administration is worried about these initiatives.
There are many questions that need to be answered as a result of this new rule. Will the children who have enrolled be able to remain enrolled? Does this mean that children who were eligible but have not enrolled yet will never be able to? What it basically comes down to is – how poor does a child have to be to be eligible?
Advocates of the Massachusetts’ health care program say this move is aimed at making it much harder to get additional funding – a spanner thrown into the works.
The USA spends, as a percentage of its gross national product, more on health than any other developed nation. It also has the highest proportion of its population with no health coverage at all, compared to all other developed nations. American life expectancy is among the lowest of industrial nations. In the European Union there are no children without comprehensive health cover. In the UK a person under 18 also gets all his/her prescription drugs free.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist