State Child Health Insurance Program: The End is Near
22 June 2007The State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the federal program that provides health insurance to children whose families can’t afford private coverage, ends it’s original ten year run on September 30, 2007. This has important implications for Alaskans because this funding is central to Denali KidCare’s ability to provide health insurance to the children of low-income working families.
While most of Congress agrees that it is a successful program that should be continued, the reauthorization keeps hitting a wall: sufficient funding to help SCHIP function at an optimal level. This funding request currently hovers in the area of $50 billion, and it is this sufficient funding that is holding up reauthorization.
Reauthorization and sufficient funding go hand-in-hand, and children’s and health policy advocates have been keeping a close eye on the many bills that have been floating around Congress. Advocates have been keeping track of the major ones: the “Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007,” by Senators Rockefeller, Snowe, and Kennedy; “The Children’s Health First Act,” jointly sponsored by Senator Clinton and Representative Dingell; and the “Healthy Kids Act of 2007,” jointly sponsored by Reps. Emanuel and Ramstad, and Senator Durbin. (link: http://nashp.org/loadedfiles/Comparing_SCHIP_Legislation.pdf)
Everyone, however, has their eyes on the Rockefeller-Snowe-Kennedy bill. It has all the major components SCHIP advocates want, as well as being the most detailed in its plans for the allocation and monitoring of funding. It was submitted to the Finance Committee in early June, where advocates expected the chairman, Senator Baucus, to begin a marukup of the SCHIP legislation. According to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, Senator Baucus will finally write his markup on June 27, in anticipation of getting a final bill to the Senate floor for a vote before the July 4 recess.
Projections from the Congressional Research Office and the Current Population Survey show that Alaska could receive triple the funding in fiscal year 2008 than it did in FY 2007. If what comes out of the committee follows the Rockefeller-Snowe-Kennedy bill, Alaska could receive $33 mission in 2008 and cover approximately 9-10 thousand more uninsured children.
The main point of contention is where to get the funds for SCHIP. Of the proposed methods for covering the cost of SCHIp’s reauthorization, only one, a tobacco tax, has had any serious discussion in Congress. Baucus’s markup and the resulting funding proposal is expected to strongly hinge on his solution to the funding problem.
President Bush released his budget plan for Fiscal Year 2008 a few weeks ago, and the difference between his proposed SCHIP funding levels and those being asked for by advocates, state health departments, and the representatives writing these bills is enormous. The president wants approximately $5 billion over the next five years for SCHIP, while most Congressional proposals hover around $50 billion over the same time span.
A bill with everything SCHIP advocates hoped for has been submitted to the Senate Finance Committee for markup, but the final product that Baucus puts to the Senate floor for a vote will be something no one has seen before. Where the funding necessary for SCHIP to function at a sufficient level will come from, and whether Congress and the President will be willing to sign off on it is something no one can predict. All eyes are on the Senate Finance Committee as we edge closer to the end of SCHIP’s first ten years.
Elizabeth Agi