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Even though it costs less to provide health insurance to children than to any other group of people, millions of children could remain uninsured thanks to the misguided priorities of the Bush Administration.
The illusion that was compassionate conservatism was finally declared dead last week when 10 Republican members of the House of Representatives decided to block Congress from overriding the President's veto of the reauthorization of the State Children Health Insurance Program. Those 10 Republicans stand between 10 million children across America and health care. Locally, this is the funding source for New York State's Child Health Plus program, which helps over 600,000 children and families annually.
Instead of helping 10 million children get the kind of preventive care that keeps emergency room costs down and economic productivity up, these Republicans chose to base their vote on myths and inaccuracies. They decided to follow an Administration that wants us to believe that this bill would steer money away from the poor to give high wage earners and undocumented residents free health coverage. This is the same Administration whose search for phantom weapons of mass destruction has buried us in a devastating war in Iraq.
The Bush Administration's arguments against this plan are just not true. There is nothing in the bill that grants health insurance to undocumented residents. Perhaps most of all, nothing in this bill automatically extends coverage to those earning $83,000 a year or higher. The fact is that the bill still leaves the decision to grant a waiver -- to determine whether what a family of four can afford in New York is the same as what a family of four can afford in Iowa -- up to the White House.
No amount of smoke and mirrors can hide the fact that the number of uninsured Americans nationally is 45 million and growing. That two out of every ten of those uninsured are children, including 400,000 in New York State. That of the 2.2 million uninsured in New York State, 78 percent are employed. That children of color, who make up an increasing amount of our schools and general population, are also disproportionately impacted, comprising 62.2% of all uninsured children; and 63.9% of all uninsured children are living at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
The fact is that the number of those whose hard work earns them too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to receive quality health care is growing. If we do nothing, a program seen as necessary by both sides of the political aisle will begin to falter. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the next five years, 3.8 million eligible children -- 268,000 of them in New York -- could easily go uninsured if the President's veto stands.
When our children are healthy, our entire society benefits. Studies show that healthy children behave and perform better in school. Impacted less by preventable diseases like heart disease and obesity, they stand a greater chance of growing up to be adults who lead healthier lives. These adults can contribute more to society because they miss less days of work and spend less time at the doctor or in costlier emergency rooms. Healthy adults can focus more of their time fulfilling not just their own dreams, but also our nation's economic potential.
As a government, we are responsible for setting the priorities that will lay the foundation for national success today and tomorrow. If we can find $100 billion to fight the current war in Iraq, surely we can find the $35 billion to cover the least expensive and most vulnerable of our population. If we don't, how can we compete in the world where countries are increasingly investing in the health and education of their workforce? What do we tell our children when they ask us why we aren't the country that we can and should be?
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This op-ed was orginally published in the October 25th edition of the Amsterdam News
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