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Covering All Kids

Many health care advocates believe that as you build public programs into the middle class, more and more Americans -- voting Americans in particular -- will become invested in those programs and more welcoming of a universal system. As a first step to universal access to coverage, states like Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have built health care programs to cover all kids, a strategy feared by the Right. A 2007 New York Times/CBS News poll found that 84% of voters support expanding SCHIP to cover all uninsured kids.

From the Dispatch

CHIP Expansion in Texas Highlights Continued State Health Coverage Advances

May 21, 2009

Texas has both the highest rate and the greatest number of uninsured children of any state. 21.8% of all kids in the state, representing over 1.5 million children, lack health coverage. This is more more than the entire populations of 14 different US States. Addressing this problem, Texas lawmakers are poised to take a large and bi-partisan bite out of the number of uninsured children. HB 2962, sponsored by Rep. Garnet Coleman, will expand the state's CHIP program to an additional 80,000 children.
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Covering All Kids: CHIP Reauthorization, Economic Recovery and Immigrant Children's Health Care Coverage

Apr 20, 2009

This Dispatch outlines the expanded SCHIP program, which is not only important for individual families but also should be a critical part of state economic recovery plans. The new law increases SCHIP funding by $44 billion over the next 5 years. This is on top of the "baseline" of $5 billion annually, bringing the total to $69 billion -- double the amount made available to states in 2008. These billions of dollars represent new health care jobs and spending for states that take full advantage of the program.
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Iowa Advances Health Reform Agenda

Mar 26, 2009

Prior to last Monday's White House health care forum in Des Moines, Iowa, one of fiveregional forums being held across the country, the Iowa Senate passed two significant health care reform measures - one symbolic and one substantive.
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Expanding Access to Dental Care

Mar 05, 2009

State Sen. Ray Cleary, a South Carolina Republican, has proposed S.286 to create a free dental screening program for schoolchildren in at least 3 of the state's poorest counties - where children are most likely to go without regular dental care. Sen. Cleary, a dentist himself, wants to combat the adverse effects that poor dental health has on a child's education, including the inability to focus while in school because of pain and missed school days. According to the Pew Center on the States, tooth decay is the most common childhood disease, affecting 60% of all children and causing kids across the country to miss 51 million hours of school time each year.
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