Quit Playing Politics With the Health of Children
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Having worked in the Senate and House for over a decade, it is tragic is witness the inability of Members of Congress to forge bipartisan compromises to move our nation forward. Even worse, as the recent debacle over funding of the Department of Homeland Security demonstrates, Congress has a difficult time even getting members of the same party to reach agreement on a fundamental act that is necessary to fund our nation's homeland security.In a recent National Journal article, members of Congress expressed lament about the dysfunction that has prevented Congress from getting much accomplished.
However, there is a path that they can take and is staring them in the face. For example, Congress could begin that process by finding common ground on a few important issues of importance to our nation's children, including the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and education.
Earlier this year, former House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor talked about how the Congress should move beyond gridlock by keeping in mind that over eight million children will be born over the next two years. As he wrote, "The future of those 8,053,000 little boys and girls deserve to have the two years of this Congress focused on them and not the next election."
Of course, a focus on children will require that Democrats and Republicans actually talk to one another. For example, failure to work on a bipartisan basis in the House resulted in the bill having to be pulled off the House floor because it didn't have the votes to pass due to splits within the Republican Party on it. And, even if it were to voted out of the House, the legislation stands no chance of being passed in the Senate or signed into law by President Obama.
Fortunately, Republican Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander and Democratic Ranking Member Patty Murray have chosen a different path and are engaged in bipartisan negotiations to move an education package forward to modify the failed No Child Left Behind law.
And, with respect to child health, over 1,500 organizations from across the country have called upon Congress to extend CHIP for four years, and our nation's governors, on a bipartisan basis, have called for CHIP's extension while highlighting the long-time success of the federal-state program. They recognize that, in tandem with Medicaid, that CHIP has successfully cut the nation's uninsured rate in half and has improved the health and well-being of millions of children over the last 18 years. Bipartisan conversations on Capitol Hill have begun on this as well.
Unfortunately, there are the forces swirling around Washington, D.C., that just cannot avoid playing politics with the lives of children. For example, Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, wrote an opinion piece on February 27, 2015, forForbes entitled "The Next ACA (Affordable Care Act) Battle: Extending The Children's Health Insurance Program."
Although she notes that there is strong bipartisan support "to continue funding CHIP," she, unfortunately, calls for cutting hundreds of thousands of children off of coverage and proclaims that the "CHIP reauthorization is a battle worth fighting because it is a harbinger of things to come with future ACA battles."
There are some incredibly ironic things about Turner's proposals. First of all, she lauds that "Republicans also want to put the 'S' for State back in SCHIP (rather than CHIP) to emphasize the state nature of the program and give states more flexibility in managing the program." Second, it is important to note that Turner is strongly opposed to the ACA or Obama Care. She has written dozens of articles that are highly critical of the ACA or Obama Care. So, she likes state flexibility and dislikes Obama Care, right?
The answer is "yes," but shockingly, she proposes to restrict state flexibility in CHIP and to, thereby, expand Obama Care in her opinion piece. For example, she touts the idea of capping eligibility and coverage that states have used to vary their eligibility and coverage levels for children. This proposal would restrict state flexibility and slash federal support to states for covering certain children in 27 states (Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia.
She points out that states like New York covers children up to a higher level of poverty than North Dakota, but that is exactly what has always been a strength of CHIP, as it allows states to adjust their programs to meet the needs of their children, the differences in the cost of living or health care states between states, etc.
If the federal government were to impose eligibility limits upon states in this fashion, it would create a financial incentive for states to drop health coverage for hundreds of thousands of children in working families -- many of whom would lose coverage Quit Playing Politics With the Health of Children | Bruce Lesley: