WASHINGTON – The Senate approved legislation Thursday that would provide health insurance to nearly 6,000 additional children in Washington state and fix a problem that has cost the state $200 million in federal funding over the past decade.
In reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Senate voted to provide $31.5 billion in funding over the next 41/2 years, including $94 million for Washington state, an increase of almost $15 million.
The program is funded with a 62-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes.
Then-President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar legislation last year and both times Congress was unable to override. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the latest effort.
The Senate bill, approved 66-32, is nearly identical to a bill approved earlier this month by the House.
There are about 78,000 uninsured children in Washington, while about 619,000 receive health care coverage under CHIP or Medicaid, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office. Of those who are uninsured, about 55,000 have access to coverage but aren’t getting care because, among other things, their families might not be aware they are eligible.
The Senate bill would allow Washington state to sustain its coverage to those receiving care, increase the number eligible for CHIP by almost 6,000, and reach out to those who are eligible but not now covered.
“For years the Bush administration played politics with children’s health care,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who as a member of the Senate Finance Committee was involved in shaping the legislation. “Today, more people have lost their jobs than at any time since World War II. As parents lose their jobs, unfortunately more children become eligible for CHIP, which makes getting Washington state its ‘fair share’ more important.”
Washington state’s other Democratic senator, Patty Murray, also pointed a finger at Bush and Republicans for blocking last year’s efforts to reauthorize the program.
“It is a tragedy and a shame that children’s health care became the victim of a partisan fight,” Murray said.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated that for every one-point rise in the unemployment rate, 700,000 children nationally lose their health insurance.
“That’s wrong,” Murray said in a floor speech during Senate debate. “And it’s one of the reasons we put CHIP at the top of our agenda this year. In difficult times like these, it’s more important than ever our nation’s children never have to go without medical care.”
When the CHIP program was created by Congress in 1997, Washington and 10 other states were already providing health insurance to children of low-income families. Rules for the new program barred states from moving children from Medicaid to CHIP.
But CHIP funding was based on a complicated formula, and Washington state was receiving more money than it needed. The excess money – $200 million – had to be returned.
Cantwell said the state will now have “full access” to its fair share of program funding. After six years of trying, Cantwell said the bill provided “permanent recognition we were penalized when the original funding formula was written.”
Les Blumenthal: 202-383-0008
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