Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Governor Gregoire to Doc Hastings: Stand up for children's health care

Following Dubya's disgusting but expected veto of the SCHIP reauthorization bill (because costly foreign occupations are worth paying for, but health care for American kids is not) Governor Gregoire has dispatched a letter to entrenched Republican Doc Hastings, insisting he vote to override the veto.

Here's the complete text of the letter.
Dear Congressman Hastings:

With the President's veto this morning of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization bill, I ask you vote to override the veto.

I do realize the partisan pressures you must have to support the President, but on this issue, many Republican members of Congress have supported the bill the President has now vetoed. I ask that you do the same.

Congress has passed a bill to reauthorize SCHIP that is critical for children and families in Washington state. We have been penalized for our efforts in the past and yet we have still managed to ensure that Washington families in need have the proper care for their children.

Among other things, the bill fully fixes our long-standing inequity for having been an early leader in children's coverage and it opens up a path to do in SCHIP what we are currently doing in our state with Medicaid - partnering with private employers to secure Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI) for clients.

When you look across our state, many families most in need live in the 4th Congressional District. Specifically, I am sure you know that:
  • Of the 72,000 uninsured children in Washington from families with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL), an estimated 11,000 (or 15.3%) are in the 4th CD,
  • USDA Economic Research Services estimates show that over 22.5% of Washington State's children living in poverty reside in the 4th CD; and
  • Over 21% of the children currently served through medical assistance programs reside in the 4th CD.
In Washington state, imagine a single mom or dad and two children. At 250% FPL, this mom or dad is making just over $43,000 a year working yard to provide for his or her children.

At 300% FPL, the parent would be reaching just over $51,000 a year. Rent, food, and child care consumes a tremendous amount of this very real family's limited resources, leaving very little available for health coverage.

In Washington State, the SCHIP program currently requires the parent contribute to the cost of the care if their income is between 200% and 250% FPL, thus we can ensure that children are accessing preventative and routine health services rather than relying on emergency rooms for very costly health care to our taxpayers.

And with legislation enacted last session to take our program to 300% FPL, we will continue to require parental contribution.

When the first SCHIP reauthorization bill passed the House on August 1, you said you felt that certain Medicare provisions in the bill unnecessarily pitted one vulnerable group against another - specifically, children and seniors.

Furthermore, there was the provision that would have adversely impacted Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, a physician-owned facility in the 4th Congressional District. As I understand for your statement from August 1, for those reasons and those alone, you cast a no vote.

On Tuesday, September 25th, you had before you a bill that dealt solely with children's health. All of the Medicare provisions that you objected to had been removed.

When you voted no, you said that "[we]e should first help the poorest kids we promised to ten years ago, not expand the program to the point that families of four earning $83,000 a year switch from private insurance to taxpayer-funded health care." The bill does not provide for coverage to families making at or above $83,000 per year, or 400% FPL.

In fact, the bill caps SCHIP allotments for states that may go to 300% FPL and requires states, if they wish to go beyond 300%, to submit a plan to address crowd-out.

Further, Washington state has been a leader in providing low-income children access to high quality health care services. Through hard work, we have managed to get to 91% of those at or below 200% FPL enrolled in programs - only one state, Vermont, has been more successful and reached 92%.

You also said, in voting against, SCHIP, that "[r]ather then making certain the poorest children get care, Democrats are pushing a Canadian-style government run health care system." The bipartisan, bicameral bill passed by Congress is anything but an entree into a single-player, "government-run" system.

Rather, SCHIP is a capped, block grant program and not an entitlement. Furthermore, new policies included in the SCHIP reauthorization bill move to cut adults - once allowed by waivers granted by the Bush administration - completely off of the program.

The private sector does, in fact, have a role in carrying out SCHIP (or Medicaid, for that matter) as the majority of care delivered in Washington state is through contracts with private managed care companies.

Reauthorization of SCHIP this year has been my number one federal health care priority for Washington and I am so proud of the work that has been done to craft a bipartisan bill that protects the health of our state's children.

We are so close to seeing the bill enacted, but it cannot happen without your help. Please use your next opportunity to vote on SCHIP to set the record straight and vote yes for the children and families on your district and our state,

On behalf of all our Washington children, please vote to override the president's SCHIP veto.

Sincerely,

Christine O. Gregoire
Governor
Perhaps presidential candidate Chris Dodd has summed up this situation the best:
This President's priorities are unconscionable. With the resources it takes to execute just over 3 months of the Iraq War, we could fully fund the expansion of health care for needy children that Bush vetoed. Indeed, today's veto is another reminder that this war is not only adversely affecting our security but also adversely affecting our other top priorities, and it's time for Congress to do what it must do to end it.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is undeterred by the veto:
Today the President had an opportunity to sign a bipartisan bill that will bring health care to 10 million children in families struggling to make ends meet. Instead, President Bush used his cruel veto pen to say "I forbid 10 million children from getting the health benefits they deserve."

Despite the President's veto, we will continue to work with a bipartisan majority in Congress and 43 governors from across the country to increase support for SCHIP in the House so we can override the veto and provide 10 million children the health coverage they need and deserve.

The President chose to block a bill with strong bipartisan consensus—which has so much potential for good—to force Congress to mount a veto override effort. We remain committed to making SCHIP into law — with or without the President’s support.
The only way to put a stop to this administration's disgusting behavior is to fight back at every turn, every opportunity. Congress must override Bush's veto and pass SCHIP into law. The only response that Dubya respects is a show of force. It's time for the legislative branch to stand up and assert its authority, and time for representatives like Doc Hastings to prove whether they really mean what they say when it comes to protecting our kids.

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