ECW
01-27-2007, 06:47 AM
In a state legislature run by Republicans, nothing shows the chasm of differences between the two parties than how children's health care is viewed. Republicans slashed funding for the CHIP program and cut thousands of kids off the rolls. Democrats are looking to reverse that decision and drag our once-great state from the bottom of the child health care list. It appears that the money is there. All that is lacking is that one quality that our illustrious president made famous by talking the talk but not walking the walk: compassion.
AUSTIN — Democrats in the Texas House vowed Wednesday to push expanded state-funded health insurance coverage for children of the working poor by repealing the stringent changes passed in 2003.
"Back in 2003, you heard that we had a $10 billion deficit and the state of Texas couldn't afford to pay for things like health insurance," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "Now, here we are four years later with a $14.1 billion surplus. There is no excuse."
Sixty-one of the House's 69 Democrats are co-authoring, co-sponsoring or drafting their own Children's Health Insurance Program legislation, Coleman said at a news conference attended by more than two dozen of his Democratic colleagues.
He estimated that restoring CHIP enrollment to pre-2003 levels would cost the state about $300 million over two years — equivalent to the money in the governor's Enterprise Fund, which critics call a corporate slush fund.
Repealing the 2003 provisions, which sent CHIP enrollment down by about 200,000, was a priority for Democrats in the 2005 session, but that effort failed.
Whether the Democrats' current effort will succeed is unclear. No Republicans appeared at Coleman's news conference. House Speaker Tom Craddick made clear he would not be pushing the CHIP issue this session.
Craddick would leave CHIP "up to the Appropriations Committee and the will of the House," his spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said.
Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, who in the previous session headed a Health and Human Services subcommittee, predicted Democrats face "an uphill battle."
So agreed Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, who led the House Appropriations Committee in 2005-06, adding that CHIP would be one of many programs competing for scarce resources.
CHIP was established in Texas in 2000 to provide state-funded health insurance to children whose families were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but were unable to pay for private insurance. Enrollment peaked at 529,000 in 2002. Current enrollment stands at just under 322,000, according to state data.
Democrats proposed three major changes to the current eligibility:
Determine eligibility once a year, instead of every six months. Critics contend that the extra burden for families has knocked thousands of otherwise CHIP-eligible children from the rolls. Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, said some 76 percent of those dropped from the CHIP rolls submitted applications, which were either not received on time or not processed in time.
Eliminate the asset test, which prohibits families with a gross monthly income greater than 150 percent of the federal poverty level ($17,170 for a family of three) from having $5,000 in savings and in vehicles, combined. Democrats said they also wanted CHIP eligibility to be based on a family's net income, not gross income.
Eliminate the 90-day waiting period, which limits health care access for three months after a child has been accepted into the program.
Coleman said nearly $400 million in state funds were left unspent for Medicaid and CHIP in 2006, enough to cover every Texas child who lost CHIP coverage since May 2002 and who lost Medicaid coverage in 2006.
~link~ (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA012507.13A.chip_legislation.181843b.html)
AUSTIN — Democrats in the Texas House vowed Wednesday to push expanded state-funded health insurance coverage for children of the working poor by repealing the stringent changes passed in 2003.
"Back in 2003, you heard that we had a $10 billion deficit and the state of Texas couldn't afford to pay for things like health insurance," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "Now, here we are four years later with a $14.1 billion surplus. There is no excuse."
Sixty-one of the House's 69 Democrats are co-authoring, co-sponsoring or drafting their own Children's Health Insurance Program legislation, Coleman said at a news conference attended by more than two dozen of his Democratic colleagues.
He estimated that restoring CHIP enrollment to pre-2003 levels would cost the state about $300 million over two years — equivalent to the money in the governor's Enterprise Fund, which critics call a corporate slush fund.
Repealing the 2003 provisions, which sent CHIP enrollment down by about 200,000, was a priority for Democrats in the 2005 session, but that effort failed.
Whether the Democrats' current effort will succeed is unclear. No Republicans appeared at Coleman's news conference. House Speaker Tom Craddick made clear he would not be pushing the CHIP issue this session.
Craddick would leave CHIP "up to the Appropriations Committee and the will of the House," his spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said.
Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, who in the previous session headed a Health and Human Services subcommittee, predicted Democrats face "an uphill battle."
So agreed Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, who led the House Appropriations Committee in 2005-06, adding that CHIP would be one of many programs competing for scarce resources.
CHIP was established in Texas in 2000 to provide state-funded health insurance to children whose families were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but were unable to pay for private insurance. Enrollment peaked at 529,000 in 2002. Current enrollment stands at just under 322,000, according to state data.
Democrats proposed three major changes to the current eligibility:
Determine eligibility once a year, instead of every six months. Critics contend that the extra burden for families has knocked thousands of otherwise CHIP-eligible children from the rolls. Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, said some 76 percent of those dropped from the CHIP rolls submitted applications, which were either not received on time or not processed in time.
Eliminate the asset test, which prohibits families with a gross monthly income greater than 150 percent of the federal poverty level ($17,170 for a family of three) from having $5,000 in savings and in vehicles, combined. Democrats said they also wanted CHIP eligibility to be based on a family's net income, not gross income.
Eliminate the 90-day waiting period, which limits health care access for three months after a child has been accepted into the program.
Coleman said nearly $400 million in state funds were left unspent for Medicaid and CHIP in 2006, enough to cover every Texas child who lost CHIP coverage since May 2002 and who lost Medicaid coverage in 2006.
~link~ (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA012507.13A.chip_legislation.181843b.html)