LAKE COUNTY – The future of a low-cost health insurance program for children is uncertain after both sides of Capitol Hill passed the sweeping health care bill this week that would reauthorize it. For people like Lake County resident Michelle Reyes, an impending presidential veto would spell disaster.
“That would be tragic,” said Reyes. “I”m worried not only for my own family but because I work with the families of Lake County, and that would hurt.”
Reyes” two children are covered under Healthy Families, which is California”s version of the State Children”s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Like many other Lake County families, Reyes” monthly income is just enough to make her ineligible for Medi-Care, which covers very low-income children and families.
Healthy Families stands in the gap between Medi-Cal and rising insurance premiums for America”s working poor. For Reyes it means the difference between paying $12 and $200 or more per month just for coverage, not to mention the price gap for prescriptions.
Both sides of the Hill subsequently passed The Children”s Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (The CHAMP Act, HR 3162), with a 225 – 204 Wednesday vote in the House and a 68 – 31 Thursday vote in the Senate. But the bill faces a likely veto by President George W. Bush.
Following a July 18 roundtable on health care, Bush remarked, “I believe government cannot provide affordable health care…. If Congress continues to insist upon expanding health care through the SCHIP program – which, by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people – I”ll veto the bill.”
Bush proposed $5 billion to extend the SCHIP program, $30 billion short of the Senate”s number and $45 billion short of the House”s, according to U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson”s office.
Thompson estimated the House”s proposed SCHIP expansion would cover five million new kids nationwide. And while Bush expressed support “in concept” for affordable health care for needy families, he said he”s not in favor of “a massive expansion of the federal role in providing health care for individuals across the country.”
That sends up a red flag for Cathy Frey, executive director of the Alliance for Rural Community Health, which has medical clinics in Lake and Mendocino counties. “If the SCHIP is not reauthorized at the federal level, it”s unknown what will happen to Healthy Families here in California,” she said.
“Say there were a thousand children in Lake County on the Healthy Families program. If that program was not reauthorized, and if the Healthy Families program goes away, those children become uninsured. That”s the real impact.”
In fact, there are a reported 1,666 Lake County children enrolled in Healthy Families as of this June, according to Thompson”s office. And that”s just those whose families realize they qualify.
An income qualification chart that shows how much a family can bring home before they no longer qualify for Medi-Cal, and how much they can make and still qualify for Healthy Families. For instance, a family of four – including the parent or parents – with children between the ages of one and five no longer qualifies for Medi-Cal once the family income reaches $2,289. Healthy Families would then kick in – provided an application is approved – and cover the family”s children until its income reaches $4,303.
“You”re working, but you”re working to pay your bills,” said Reyes, who said she”s in the process of having her six-year-old son diagnosed with autism. His extraordinary sensitivity to having dental work done, among other things, has created some hefty doctor”s bills that without Healthy Families might have been too much to handle.
“I”m not working to pay off my mansion or working to go out on my yacht this weekend,” she said. “You don”t have a lot left over, and there would be a lot less if I had to pay for insurance.
“There are tons of people who are the working poor,” said Reyes. “We need this (program) because it”s nice not to worry, ”can I buy groceries this month,” or when they (kids) have a fever, wonder, ”should I buy Tylenol or take them in?” When they get sick you don”t hesitate to call a doctor,” said Reyes of her one-and-a-half years on the program.
Reyes, who also works in child development and does home visits through Early Head Start, noted that good health just makes good sense, not to mention dollars. “If a child is not healthy and not feeling good, they”re not going to learn. And if children are staying home from school, the schools don”t earn money. Healthy children are what our community needs to survive.”
Spokesperson Anne Warden with Congressman Thompson”s office called the Thursday Senate vote “very good news,” noting that it doesn”t guarantee the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
