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By AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – Several governors urged Congress Tuesday to revamp the way the federal government pays for State Children’s Health Insurance Programs that help the working poor.
“The better you are at implementing SCHIP, the less funding you receive,” Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue complained to a House health subcommittee.
“If a state was 100 percent successful and reached all eligible uninsured children, its funding the next year would be drastically cut because no children would be uninsured,” Perdue said.
Flawed funding formulas leave Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and other states with shortfalls, he said.
The program targets families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to pay for their own health insurance.
Mississippi has been consistently shortchanged because of flaws in the formula, Gov. Haley Barbour told the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In fiscal year 2008, the federal government’s allotment fell $50 million short in covering the 63,000 children in his state’s program, he said.
Mississippi has relied on redistributed funds from other states, he said. But states have increasingly expanded their SCHIP programs to cover more children and adults, leaving Mississippi with less money, Barbour said.
“The pool of funds available to be redistributed to states such as mine has shrunk and we are faced with significant shortfalls and much uncertainty,” he said.
Perdue also said the current funding formula hurts fast-growing states like Georgia by using old data that doesn’t reflect the population or need.
SCHIP, which officially expired at the end of September, covers more than 6 million people, mostly children, living in families making up to 200 percent of the poverty level, or $42,400 for a family of four.
Last year, President Bush twice vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have reauthorized and broadened the program. In December he signed legislation that extended SCHIP through March 2009 at current enrollment levels.
Congress may try to reauthorize SCHIP this year. But even if Congress reauthorized the program, Mississippi would still be shorted by 27 percent, Barbour said.
The governors also said a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to the states in August will also hurt their SCHIP programs, effectively blocking any expansions.
“This memo is a true violation of the state-federal partnership,” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told the committee.
According to the letter, states would no longer be allowed to increase eligibility for SCHIP programs unless states have provided coverage to 95 percent of children who fall within 200 percent of federal poverty level.
But no state can comply with that, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said. Many working families, particularly in areas with a high-cost of living, make more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level but do not have money for health insurance, Gregoire said. They will be left out, she said.
Mary Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare Services, said the directive is an attempt to prevent crowding out children who need the program the most.
“The administration imposed the letter in an effort to ensure the poorest children are covered first,” she said.
Several states are suing CMS over the directive, saying the agency exceeded its authority.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – Several governors urged Congress Tuesday to revamp the way the federal government pays for State Children’s Health Insurance Programs that help the working poor.
“The better you are at implementing SCHIP, the less funding you receive,” Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue complained to a House health subcommittee.
“If a state was 100 percent successful and reached all eligible uninsured children, its funding the next year would be drastically cut because no children would be uninsured,” Perdue said.
Flawed funding formulas leave Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and other states with shortfalls, he said.
The program targets families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to pay for their own health insurance.
Mississippi has been consistently shortchanged because of flaws in the formula, Gov. Haley Barbour told the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In fiscal year 2008, the federal government’s allotment fell $50 million short in covering the 63,000 children in his state’s program, he said.
Mississippi has relied on redistributed funds from other states, he said. But states have increasingly expanded their SCHIP programs to cover more children and adults, leaving Mississippi with less money, Barbour said.
“The pool of funds available to be redistributed to states such as mine has shrunk and we are faced with significant shortfalls and much uncertainty,” he said.
Perdue also said the current funding formula hurts fast-growing states like Georgia by using old data that doesn’t reflect the population or need.
SCHIP, which officially expired at the end of September, covers more than 6 million people, mostly children, living in families making up to 200 percent of the poverty level, or $42,400 for a family of four.
Last year, President Bush twice vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have reauthorized and broadened the program. In December he signed legislation that extended SCHIP through March 2009 at current enrollment levels.
Congress may try to reauthorize SCHIP this year. But even if Congress reauthorized the program, Mississippi would still be shorted by 27 percent, Barbour said.
The governors also said a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to the states in August will also hurt their SCHIP programs, effectively blocking any expansions.
“This memo is a true violation of the state-federal partnership,” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told the committee.
According to the letter, states would no longer be allowed to increase eligibility for SCHIP programs unless states have provided coverage to 95 percent of children who fall within 200 percent of federal poverty level.
But no state can comply with that, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said. Many working families, particularly in areas with a high-cost of living, make more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level but do not have money for health insurance, Gregoire said. They will be left out, she said.
Mary Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare Services, said the directive is an attempt to prevent crowding out children who need the program the most.
“The administration imposed the letter in an effort to ensure the poorest children are covered first,” she said.
Several states are suing CMS over the directive, saying the agency exceeded its authority.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com