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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Health Insurance for Kids Passed

Health insurance for children passed. It is just ridiculous not to have it. I knew the president, either Obama or Clinton, would do this presidential act. I am writing about this again because I am concerned from what I am hearing about revamping the health insurance and we may lose what we got. Losing this coverage will be difficult to swallow especially for parents if their child has diabetes.

What will happen to the millions more children of lower-income parents who were supposed to gain health coverage under an expansion of State Children's Health Insurance Program that President Obama signed into law? Are they going to lose this coverage? There is so much rhetoric, it is not easy to sift through the fine print.

I remember clearly it was Wednesday when the House of Representatives voted 290-135 in favor of the legislation. Then the Senate followed suit and in late January and passed the bill on a 66-32 vote. I like what President Obama said that we are not a nation that will leave families having a difficult time to fend for themselves.

President Obama is right to say that "No child in America should be receiving primary care in the emergency room in the middle of the night." This is a program that will take care of the children in families that cannot qualify for Medicaid and who at the same time, cannot afford private insurance.

The president did promise to cover all Americans and so he said passing the health insurance to cover the children is a kind of down payment for that promise. The trouble is now he may be forced to give up some of what he is hoping for just to keep the government functioning.

The economic stimulus plan tried to make investment in health care. This includes funds for states so that program cuts can be avoided. With the recession costing a lot of families losing their jobs, this would have been such a welcome break. The president of the American Medical Association at that time, Dr. Nancy Nielson, agreed.

Due to the increase in unemployment, more children have probably been added to the list of the uninsured. This of course puts increasing pressure on state health-care programs. The new law will enable states to extend health care coverage to more children of parents who cannot afford the insurance but earn more than what is allowed to qualify for Medicaid.

A senior fellow by the name of Edwin Park analyzed the health policy at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the law will help the states because before this law they have not been able to figure out what to do regarding health coverage for children.

The law is supposed to get through to fiscal 2013 with 4.1 million children gaining coverage who will join the 6.7 million children who are already on the program. Tobacco products will be taxed at a higher rate and this is supposed to fund the health coverage for children.

President Bush was noted to have vetoed two times similar expansions. He complained that it would lead to the federalization of the health care system. Other critics also said that the standards to qualify are too broad and so the children who are already on private insurance will move to the public one.

Now you can see why I am so concerned that we will take a step backward on this very important issue. That is why I am writing about this so that we can all get together and not lose what we have already gained in the form of the children's health insurance.



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