SCHIP is now failing us
Today’s Topics:
1. SCHIP is now failing us (Don McCanne)
2. B. Capell on the declining enrollment in SCHIP (Don McCanne)
3. D.W. Light on the declining enrollment in SCHIP (Don McCanne)
Sat, 24 Jul 2004
Subject: qotd: SCHIP is now failing us
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
News Release
July 23, 2004
New Survey Reports Children’s Enrollment in SCHIP Coverage Dropped for the First Time in the Six-Year History of the Program Reflecting both the economic downturn and the significant drop in state revenues over the past two years, enrollment of children in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) declined during the second half of 2003 for the first time since enactment of SCHIP in 1997. Enrollment declines in 11 states and the District of Columbia more than offset moderate increases in 37 other states, according to the new 50-state survey.
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/kcmu072304nr.cfm
Comment: As we have continued to watch the expansion of the rolls of the uninsured, we have taken some solace in the one success of the past decade: the expanding coverage of children through the SCHIP program. Now current public policies have resulted in this significant setback in children’s coverage.
We need a system which would automatically enroll everyone in a program with comprehensive coverage. With our existing fragmented system, we have demonstrated that we have not met the threshold of adequate political support for these patchwork government programs. But the experience of other industrialized nations has demonstrated that a universal program would meet that threshold.
If we want a universal, comprehensive system, we are going to have to elect politicians who will enact it. Until then, we can weep, especially for the children.
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Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 09:41:45 -0700
Subject: qotd: B. Capell on the declining enrollment in SCHIP
Beth Capell, Ph.D., lobbyist for California’s Health Access:
I derive a sadder lesson from this experience: an initial spurt of political will is not sufficient to sustain commitment to adequate funding of health care. Sustaining adequate funding, even in tough times, takes sustained and ongoing effort by health advocates.
That will be as true in a system of universal coverage as it is for SCHIP. Having all of us in the same system will strengthen the will, but as the experiences in Canada, Britain, and elsewhere demonstrate, those who value profits over patients are always with us.
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Message: 3
Sat, 24 Jul 2004
D.W. Light on the declining enrollment in SCHIP
Donald W. Light, Ph.D., Professor of Comparative Health Care Systems, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey:
You are right that automatic enrollment is the key. So is a universal system rather than patches in a quilt. We are now seeing the same process that characterized CHIP occur with the new Medicare coverage. Millions of extra dollars and a sub-industry is being created just to overcome the bureaucratic complexities and many stipulations that are part of any one patch, so that those who “should” enroll do.