Activists Hope Congress Will Reverse Veto of Health Bill

Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
 

    By the end of the week, supporters of the measure in the U.S. Congress will see if there are enough votes to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the 2007 version of the State Children Health Insurance Program or SCHIP.
       President Bush opposes the measure passed with both Democratic and Republican support because he said it costs too much.  The U.S. Congress would raise the yearly expenditure to  $7 billion for the next five years  or  $35 billion and that would add an additional 3.1 children  to the list of  the 6.6 million children already covered by  the federally funded but state run  program. Even if the U.S. Congress should override President Bush’s veto, there will still be 5 million uninsured children in the United States.
       In Virginia,  there are some 83,000 children covered by SCHIP  money under the banner of the  FAMIS program, according to  Jill Hanken, a staff attorney who is an expert in health care issues for  the Virginia Poverty Law Center in Richmond.  

      Another 96,000 children are eligible but still uninsured by FAMIS or Medicaid which covers healthcare cost for the poor. 49.1%  of these children are white; 24.6% are African American; 19.1% are Hispanic; and 7.2% are other.
      Of the children who are enrolled in FAMIS, 41% are white; 36% are African American; 19% are Hispanic; and 5% other.
        Hanken said the Richmond area and Hampton Roads have two of the highest concentrations of uninsured children because they are the most urban regions in the Commonwealth.
        President Bush said the plan is too expensive and it would expand SCHIP to families whose incomes exceed the federal poverty level
     

        
    Bush and other opponents of SCHIP  call the federal program “socialist” because it is run by the government. They say it would lead families to end their private health care insurance and enroll into government funded ones.
Further the White House says that states would be allowed to add adults to the  program and also open  the  doors to illegal immigrants.
        Although the SCHIP Bill of 2007 has bi-partisan political support,  Democrats in the House, as of early this week, needed 15 Republican votes to overturn the President’s veto. In the Senate the Democrats have the votes to  turn back the President’s action.
       A bipartisan group has come out in support of the SCHIP Bill, including some of the most conservative and liberal organizations, according to Ed Sheleby, a spokesperson for the Children’s Defense Fund.
       Both Sheleby and Hanken said the White House offensive has been bolstered by a number of  mistruths about  the Bill.
       The first is eligibility. President Bush and members of his Administration have said that the current Bill would allow families of four making $63,000 or 300 percent of the federal poverty level more access to the program.
       Hanken said there was only one case of a family being allowed  access to the SCHIP rolls who made that level of money and they lived in New York. 
       “New York and New Jersey have the highest cost of living and income levels in the nation,” she said. “$73,000 (350 percent of poverty) in New Jersey is median income. It is not the highest nor the lowest but in the middle,” she said.
“In Virginia, 200 percent of the poverty level is $41,000 but people who have private insurance pay an average of $12,000 a year for coverage and  that increases if you have children with chronic illnesses.”
       Further, states are required to seek waivers for people in higher income brackets before enrolling children.
       Another myth being spread by the Administration is that illegal aliens would be allowed access to SCHIP. According to Sheleby, the current bill would block illegal aliens from being allowed to sign up for the program.
       “This bill covers all of the poor children who  are qualified and have signed up for the program,” said Hanken. “We are hoping that the President will see the need  to approve this bill because we need to  further expand the safety net for children who are vulnerable to being without insurance in this country.”

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