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As he moves ahead with his plans to cover more of
Illinois’ medically uninsured, Gov. Rod Blagojevich also is weighing
in on the national healthcare debate. Blagojevich, along with a bipartisan group of 30
governors, last week sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Michael Leavitt asking for the repeal of proposed rule
changes that governors say will impede their ability to expand healthcare
programs in their states. “Governors are leading the way to create
meaningful and sustainable coverage options for their uninsured
populations. The [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’]
decision to limit coverage options for states and unilaterally alter
existing state plans is contrary to our shared responsibility of working
cooperatively to provide health coverage for uninsured
children,” the letter states. Created in 1997, the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program, or SCHIP, is a federal program run by states and funded
jointly by state and federal governments for children whose families cannot
afford health insurance but earn too much to receive Medicaid. In Illinois,
SCHIP is called KidCare, which falls under the purview of All Kids, a wider
initiative that Blagojevich launched in 2006. The new federal rule would have no effect on access
to care in Illinois. Although the state uses SCHIP dollars for those who
are below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, an Illinois family of
five that makes $193,056 a year could still qualify for state assistance
through All Kids. Even though Illinois will not be immediately
affected, Blagojevich’s administration opposes the White House
initiative because the new rule would chip away at states’
flexibility to decide how best to use SCHIP funds and pushes the
burden of insuring on states, says Illinois Department of Healthcare and
Family Services spokeswoman Teresa Kurtenbach. “That is in direct conflict with the original
purpose of the SCHIP program,” Kurtenbach says.
Blagojevich also wrote President George W. Bush in
August urging that he reauthorize SCHIP, which expires at the end of
September. Late last week, Congress reached a compromise that would expand
SCHIP coverage to 6.6 million more children, costing an additional $35
billion. Congress is expected to send that bill to the president this week.
Bush promised to veto the legislation, calling the
proposal an “incremental step toward the Democrats’ goal of a
government-run health care system” that would extend taxpayer-funded
healthcare to families making $83,000 per year. He has proposed a more
conservative expansion of $5 billion over five years — a 20 percent
increase over the current funding level. However, there is believed to be enough support in
the U.S. Senate, which voted 68-31 in support of the bill, to overturn
Bush’s veto. Chances of an override in the House, where SCHIP’s
reauthorization passed just narrowly with a 225-204 vote, appear doubtful. Blagojevich, a Democrat, is also seeking new rules to
open up state healthcare insurance to more than 700,000 adults in Illinois.
However, the governor has not submitted any formal
plan to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, the legislative body
that reviews new state rules.
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2007.
