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REMEMBER CHILDREN IN HEALTH REFORM
For children, health reform must follow one simple principle: Fix what’s broken and build on what works.
A healthy America starts with healthy children. And, as Congress works to reform our nation’s health care system, Michigan's Children is working with First Focus in urging them to remember the unique needs of children.
Health care reform is crucial for children and families in Michigan!
Michigan's children are losing health care insurance at significant rates: 6.2 percent in 2007 compared to 4.7 percent in 2006 were uninsured.
And the vast majority of our children are insured through an employer-based program (62%), which is higher than the national average (55%). This is a risky position with Michigan’s unemployment rate at its highest since 1983, and forecast to continue rising. As more parents lose their jobs, children lose their health care coverage.
Rising costs of health care and medical insurance are making it very difficult for families – already strapped by the economy – to purchase private coverage.
A Families USA report predicts that if current trends continue, an average of 1,040 Michigan residents will lose their health care coverage between January 2008 and December 2010.
It’s a trend that is likely to continue and makes health care reform evermore important for Michiganders, who have historically experienced high rates of coverage due to our strong connection with collective bargaining.
Congress is moving very quickly to pass health care reform legislation. We must not miss our opportunity to ensure that children and families have access to high-quality, affordable coverage, including the approximately 160,000 uninsured Michigan children and the many others who are not receiving the care they need to grow and thrive.
There are no do-overs for childhood. Let's make sure Congress gets health care reform right the first time.
YOUR help is urgently needed to secure a successful reform package.
TAKE ACTION: Urge Senators Levin and Stabenow to support an amendment introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D - PA), which will build on the success of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by:
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Requiring a report to Congress about the difference between children's coverage in the Exchange and through CHIP to inform decisions about transitioning kids into the Exchange;
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Providing funding incentives for states to implement recognized best practices for streamlining enrollment of eligible children;
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Creating an eligibility floor of 250% of the federal poverty level beginning in FY 2014;
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Preventing states from increasing CHIP costs charged to families;
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Requiring that states offer children in CHIP the same benefits offered to children in Medicaid; and,
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Providing funding for outreach and enrollment grants begun under CHIPRA.
Our partner Voices for America's Children has an Action Alert sign-on letter to facilitate contacting Senators Levin and Stabenow to ask for their support of the Casey CHIP amendment. Click here to sign-on.
Contact YOUR U.S. Representative and Senators Levin and Stabenow who are all working on health care reform legislation.
Senate Members:
Senator Carl Levin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
House Members:
Representative Dave Camp (R - Midland, District 4)
Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D - Detroit, District 14)
Representative John Dingell (D - Dearborn, District 15)
Representative Vern Ehlers (R - Grand Rapids, District 3)
Representative Pete Hoekstra (R - Holland, District 2)
Representative Dale Kildee (D - Flint, District 5)
Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick (D - Detroit, District 13)
Representative Sander Levin (D - Southfield, District 12)
Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R - Livonia, District 11)
Representative Candice Miller (R - Harrison Township, District 10)
Representative Gary Peters (D - Bloomfield Township, District 9)
Representative Mike Rogers (R - Brighton, District 8)
Representative Mark Schauer (D - Battle Creek, District 7)
Representative Bart Stupak (D - Menominee, District 1)
Representative Fred Upton (R - St. Joseph, District 6)
Not sure who represents you? Click here to find out.
Side-By-Side Comparison
This side-by-side comparison by First Focus breaks down how children fare in the health reform proposals put forth by the Senate HELP Committee and the House Tri-Committee.
This updated side-by-side comparison by the Kaiser Family Foundation compares the House, Senate, and White House proposals.
Action Alerts
December 1 - Take Action: Ensure That All Children Benefit From Federal Health Care Reform!
August 19 - Congress is Home--Now is the Time to Advocate for Health Care Reforms with Children in Mind!
July 21 - Take Action Now to Ensure Children Are Not an Afterthought in Health Care Reform!
More Resources
The First Focus Health Reform Resource section provides you with fact sheets, research and reports, letters, and advertisements about protecting the needs of children in health reform. Included is a new report, "Children in Health Reform: Comparing CHIP to the Exchange Plans," which shows that CHIP outperforms the proposed Exchange plan in seven of eight measures for kids.
The Voices for America's Children Children's Health Policy section provides you with information and advocacy tools to support health reform and protect children.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website, HealthReform.gov, provides you with research, reports, and news about health care reform, including a report about the impact health reform would have on Michigan.
Children's Health Insurance Timeline
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has created an interactive timeline of enrollment and major policy developments in health insurance coverage for children in public programs during the last 40+ years.
The website also allows you to customize fact sheets by state or region.
Our Position
It is critical to ensure that children are not an afterthought of health care reform. Their voices must be heard in the conversation. In conjunction with its state and national partners, Michigan's Children supports the following in regard to health care reform:
- Pass health care reform. It is critical that our nation adopt health reform that provides coverage to everyone, addresses the rising cost of insurance and improves the quality of care.
- Do no harm to children. Health reform should not reverse progress our nation has achieved for children’s health coverage. Nearly one-third of our nation’s children—and just over a third of children in Michigan—get their health care through Medicaid and SCHIP. Before making any changes to these successful programs, Congress should make sure that vulnerable children don’t fall through the cracks during the transition phase and should ensure that children receive comparable benefits at an affordable price under any new program.
- Insure all kids. Six million of the nation’s nine million uninsured children are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP. Eliminating red tape and bureaucracy by simplifying enrollment would be the cheapest, quickest and smartest first step to get most of our children covered. Parents should have hassle-free ways to sign up their children for insurance.
- Cover kids from head to toe. All children need coverage that meets their unique developmental needs, and provides them with the preventive services, medical care, and oral and mental health benefits needed to launch them on a better trajectory in life.
Michigan’s Children is proud to work with First Focus in ensuring a better health care system for all children. We also thank the Kresge Foundation for their support of our work in this area.
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