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Bush Blocks SCHIP - States and Congressional Leaders Vow to Fight Back
http://www.progressivestates.org/dispatch Thursday, August 23, 2007Bush Blocks SCHIP - States and Congressional Leaders Vow to Fight BackIn Today's Dispatch:
Bush Blocks SCHIP - States and Congressional Leaders Vow to Fight BackPresident Bush has chosen political ideology and the corporate health insurance industry over the health and well-being of America's most needy and vulnerable people, our children. In a stealth and cowardly move to avoid the news cycle, at 7:30 PM last Friday the Bush Administration sent states new restrictions for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); restrictions that will decimate state efforts to ensure children have access to health care. States and Congressional leaders are vowing to fight the changes.  New SCHIP Restrictions
Under Bush's unilateral decree, any state that has already expanded or plans to expand SCHIP beyond 250% of the poverty level, a meager $51,625 for a family of four, will have to meet new guidelines that SCHIP experts and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office say are impossible to meet. States must:
At least 19 states and the District of Columbia have already set eligibility at 250% or above, many of which did so just this year. They are: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hamsphire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington. These states will have 12-months to comply with the new restrictions in order to maintain eligibility levels above 250%. However, as reported, this will be virtually impossible to do, resulting in budget shortfalls or more uninsured children. New York, which recently expanded SCHIP to 400% of poverty, would have to find an additional $41 million next year to maintain eligibility and offset reduced federal funding as a result of these rules.
Analysis of RestrictionsThe one-year uninsured waiting period is purely punitive and harms children, who are susceptible to illness at young ages and need timely access to immunizations and booster shots. Going without needed care jeopardizes a child's preparedness for school and their growth. The 95% enrollment requirement is nothing short of a brick wall impeding state efforts to respond to the needs of their residents. According to SCHIP experts at Georgetown University, the CBO and Sen. Max Baucus, no state has achieved this level of enrollment. In fact, the nationwide enrollment rate among eligible children in '04-'05 was 72%. This is not an indication that states are neglecting their responsibilities. Rather, states have taken unprecedented steps to notify families and enroll eligible children through simplified enrollment steps, advertising campaigns, and direct person-to-person outreach. Making matters worse, under the President's budget proposal no state would achieve 95% enrollment. The CBO reports the President's budget proposal for SCHIP - $30 billion for the next five years - is not enough to pay for current enrollment, about 6 million uninsured children nationwide, let alone those eligible but not enrolled. If states do not comply with these new restrictions, the Bush Administration has said that the federal government "may pursue corrective action?" Really, like what? States and Congressional Leaders to Fight New Resrictions - Public is on Their SideWe have repeatedly reported this year how states are leading on health care reform while DC gets caught up in ideological battles. Children's health care has seen the most advancement in 2007. All of this could be forsaken if Congress fails to reauthorize SCHIP at levels vastly exceeding the President's proposals and if it fails to roll back these draconian new guidelines. Fortunately, as we reported last month, both the House and Senate have proposed SCHIP budgets of $75 billion and $60 billion respectively. The Senate bill passed with a 68-31 veto-proof majority. Democrats and Republicans in Congress must come together on a veto-proof reauthorization package that supports state expansions of health care. States and Congressional leaders are vowing to fight the new restrictions and should put up a very public fight. Besides being the right thing to do, the public is on their side. A February 2007 CBS/New York TImes poll found 84% of Americans support expanding SCHIP to cover all uninsured children. The same poll found only 24% support President Bush's handling of health insurance issues. Bush's True Colors Shine ThroughBush's public reason for these new draconian rules is to address "crowd-out," which is when privately insured people move to public coverage, and to prevent SCHIP from becoming a substitute for private insurance. But the Emperor has no clothes. According to Jonathan Gruber of MIT, a health care finance expert who is repeatedly cited by the Bush Administration, 77% of the benefits under the President's health care reform proposals, which include tax deductions and credits to finance private insurance, would go to people who are already insured. In stark contrast, the Congressional Budget Office found that only 34% of children receiving coverage under the Senate's SCHIP bill, for instance, would otherwise have private coverage. This, if there ever was one, is an instance of "throwing the baby out with the bath water." Aside from being heartless, wrong-headed, and ignorant to the real-world financial realities of American families and the failure of the private insurance market to offer affordable health insurance, the Bush Administration's position on SCHIP is purely based on political ideology. Bush is trying to prevent universal health care in the U.S. and what the right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial staff say is "health care on the installment plan." As the Governor of Oregon said, referring to his proposal to cover all kids, "If you drive the plan into the middle class, it's not just viewed as a public assistance program. You build a base of support for the program to provide health care for all of us." Political considerations aside, President Bush needs to get his head out of the line-in-the-sand he has drawn between himself and the states and Congress over SCHIP. The obvious reality to the 64% of Americans who believe the government should guarantee health care for all, according to that same February CBS/NYT poll, is that we need to expand access to health care rather than revoke it. But as President Bush has repeatedly shown, evidence and opinions that run counter to his positions will not suade him. In this and many instances throughout his presidency, steadfastness is a poor excuse for stupidity.
Utah Mine Disaster Shows Flaws in Federal OversightDespite over two and a half weeks of rescue efforts, six coal miners still remain trapped in Utah in a tragedy that has also claimed the lives of three rescuers. The dangerous conditions apparent at the mine, as well as the treacherous rescue plan, call into question the quality of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) procedures. MSHA approved the mine operation plan in June, just months after serious structural problems forced the operators to abandon work in an area that was only 900 feet from where the miners are trapped.
According to hearings before the House on mine worker safety, MSHA has rolled back safety and health rules, and has shifted its focus away from enforcing the law and moving towards "voluntary compliance assistance." Written testimony submitted by the United Mine Workers of America states that 2006 was the most deadly year for miners since 1991. In response to the mine tragedy in Sago, West Virginia, Congress passed the MINER Act, the first new mine healthy and safety bill to be enacted by Congress in nearly 30 years. However, the agency has yet to put regulations in place, even though states have been able to more quickly implement new safety standards. States Taking the LeadAs we've pointed out time and again, the states are picking up where the feds are failing. Kentucky and West Virginia recently passed increased safety standards for mines. Last year, West Virginia passed SB 247, which creates the Mine and Industrial Accident Rapid Response System and new procedures for the emergency mine response. This year, Kentucky's legislature passed HB 207, which requires increased numbers of mine inspections, more multi-gas detectors, investigative subpoena power, and more mine emergency technicians at mining sites. Pennsylvania's Governor Rendell vowed to make stronger mine safety legislation a priority this fall and Utah's Governor has stated his interest in the state playing a greater role in regulating mine safety. But sadly, on the federal level, the extreme bias towards industry and profit seem to know no limit. Robert Murray, president of the company that co-owns the mine, is a shining example of a Bush man. When confronted by MSHA inspectors about safety problems, Murray shouted, "(Senator) Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss," referring to the fact that Sen. McConnell is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whose agency oversees MSHA. Murray also showed disturbingly little regard for the impact of the accident when he began talking about re-starting mining activities at the very same mine less than two weeks after the incident. Even the MSHA spokesman said, "we were shocked that the subject was even brought up." Nowhere is the current administration's bias more evident than in the head of the MSHA, Richard Stickler, a former coal industry executive. Stickler's confirmation is a story that is unfortunately all too common in the current administration. The Senate twice sent his nomination back to Bush for several reasons, among which were charges that when Stickler was a senior manager at a mine in West Virginia, the injury rate was three times the national average. Using his characteristic disregard for anything resembling dissent, Bush appointed Stickler during the October Congressional recess.
While his temporary appointment will end this year, it was more than enough
time for Stickler to slow implementation of mine safety improvements and far
too much time for the families of the Utah miners trapped, the families of the
rescue workers killed, and the families of the miners killed in
Indiana just days after the Utah mine
collapse. Research RoundupResearch RoundupThe California Budget Project (CBP) released a report, Hard Work and a Fair Shot, that details policies that help low-income working families make ends meet. Another CBP report intended to help guide California lawmakers as they pursue universal health care reform lays out what families can truly afford for health care when all needs that consume family resources are considered. The report found that families with incomes below 200% of poverty will not be able to contribute anything to their health care and that even many families above 300% of poverty will need partial subsidies to afford care. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research released Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free, which finds that a zero carbon dioxide U.S. economy can be achieved in the next thirty to fifty years without the use of nuclear power and without acquiring carbon credits from other countries. The study also points out that the technology to eliminate CO2 emissions from the energy sector already exists, or is within the foreseeable future. A new report from the National Governor's Association highlights the many ways states are leading on health care reform, discussing plans that are advancing across the country.
A Families USA report analyzes
retail
health clinics that are multiplying across the country in stores like
Wal-Mart, Target and CVS. While the clinics provide easy and relatively
cheap
care for common ailments like the flu, bronchitis or ear infections, they
should not be considered a replacement for the doctor-patient
relationship found in a primary care setting or medical home. Please email us leads on good research at research@progressivestates.org ResourcesBush Blocks SCHIP - States and Congressional Leaders Vow to Fight BackGeorgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children and Families - CMS Issues New Guidance to States on SCHIP Income Eligibility Georgetown University - States Affected by Proposals to Restrict SCHIP Coverage Options Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - The Administration's Dubious Claims About the Emerging Children's Health Insurance Legislation: Myth and Reality Progressive States Network - In Health Care, 2007 May By the Year of the Child Utah Mine Disaster Shows Flaws in Federal Oversight
West Virginia - SB 247 Kentucky - HB 207 Lexington Herald-Leader, Two for the Money OMB Watch, Crandall Canyon Mine Collapse Implicates MSHA Procedures Cecil E. Roberts, International President, United Mine Workers of America, Testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Eye on the RightWhile the Right is often espousing the merits of unregulated markets, sometimes their ideological fervor breezes past the facts. In a recent blog post the State Policy Network, an organization comprised of right-wing state groups, defended pharmaceutical companies' aggressive prescription drug marketing practices. Comparing them to Toshiba and Toyota promoting computers and cars, author John Graham (note the MBA, not a Masters in Public Health) says that's just how the game of capitalism is played, and that such competition has improved drug quality. But Graham misses two important points on why drugs aren't just another consumer good. 1. Unlike laptops or cars, they directly interact with our bodies on the most basic level, keeping them running, or potentially shutting them down. 2. Pharmaceutical marketing has no impact on quality because the development cycle for drugs, as Graham even mentions, is long and filled with uncertainty. If the cup holders in 2008 Toyotas are too small, they just redesign them for 2009. If Vioxx precipitates heart attacks, they don't just design a better 2009 model, they (ideally) go back to the drawing board for another decades-long process. Prescription drug marketing doesn't improve quality, it is just advertising. 3 Steps Forward1. NY: More Students Finish School, Given the Time 2. IL: Screening for staph infections are now the law 3. IA: Culver announces new needs-based scholarship program 2 Steps Back1. WY: Rx-related deaths go unchecked 2. GA: Global warming dismissed by state officials Jobs & InternshipsCheck out current opportunities with Progressive States on the Jobs & Internships Page. MastheadThe Stateside Dispatch is written and edited by: SuggestionsPlease shoot me an email at dispatch@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features. John Bacino Progressive States NetworkTell a Friend About the Dispatch! Copyright 2007 Progressive States Network. To unsubscribe: Click here Progressive States Network | ||||||||||||||||||
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