By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 13
Kansas Congresswoman Nancy Boyda today said she supported including money for the State Children”s Health Insurance Program in an emergency spending bill to support military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The 2nd District Democrat, in a brief speech on the House floor, urged her congressional colleagues to support funding for 14 states facing deficits in the popular health insurance program for children in low- to moderate-income families.
“Due to poor planning and inadequate funding from the do-nothing 109th Congress, 14 states are running out of money to finance SCHIP through the current fiscal year. They need Congress to act immediately to ensure funding,” Boyda said.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., has said the committee will include $750 million in SCHIP funding in a $103 billion emergency military operations spending measure expected to be voted on the week of March 19.
Kansas is not among the state”s facing SCHIP deficits, but Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri are. Georgia announced last week it was suspending enrollment in the program because of a $124 million shortfall.
Though most members of Congress are expected to support the emergency SCHIP appropriation, some conservatives are opposed. Last week, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.C. think-tank, issued a WebMemo urging congressional leaders to remove all but the military spending from the bill.
“The new congressional leadership must resist the temptation to lard up a vital bill for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with unrelated, non-emergency spending,” the foundation said.
Since its inception in 1997 SCHIP has provided health coverage for more than 6 million children nationwide, including 35,000 in Kansas.
In addition to its immediate funding needs the program is up for reauthorization this year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates an additional $13 billion to $15 billion is needed over the next five years to maintain SCHIP at current enrollment levels.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced recently that the fiscal year 2008 House budget resolution will include a reserve fund to cover the cost of enrolling the estimated 6 million children eligible for SCHIP but not enrolled.
Pelosi didn”t announce the cost of the reserve fund. But the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of enrolling all children at $32 billion, according to the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report.
-Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.