Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
Issues
Health
Equity for Children’s Health Insurance in Washington State
24 June 2004
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) along with U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) introduced a bipartisan bill today to fix a current inequity under which Washington State and other states are prevented from spending a large percentage of their federal allotments for health insurance coverage to children. Inslee’s bill, the “Children’s Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2004,” (H.R. 4692) changes the allotment eligibility requirements and allows Washington State to spend a greater portion of State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds on children at or near the national poverty level.
Said Inslee, “Washington State should not be punished because we had the foresight to expand coverage to children prior to the enactment of SCHIP. My bipartisan legislation will fix this inequity and increase coverage for children in our state and other states affected by this problem. Since these federal funds are intended as health insurance for children living in poverty, it only makes sense to allow Washington State to spend this money on children in low-income families. It’s a pleasure to join Congresswoman Wilson to resolve this problem in our respective states.”
“I appreciate Congressman Inslee’s efforts on this important issue,” said Wilson. “This bill would allow states to keep more of these dollars to meet the health needs of low-income children.”
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Problem:
Since the passage of SCHIP in 1997, Washington State has been unfairly penalized in its ability to spend federal allotments for children’s health insurance. SCHIP provides enhanced federal matching funds for coverage of children at a certain poverty level. However, Washington cannot use the enhanced matching rate available to other states for children of similar poverty levels since our state had expanded health coverage prior to the enactment of SCHIP in 1997.Specifically, Washington State could not apply the new federal SCHIP allotment to kids of certain poverty levels already enrolled in the state’s healthy insurance program. Consequently, from 1998 to 2003 Washington State could only spend 8.6% of its SCHIP allotment on children’s health insurance out of a potential $230 million available to the state.
Solution:
Inslee’s legislation will fix this loophole and allow Washington and other states to apply a greater percentage of the state’s SCHIP allotment to children within a certain range of the national poverty level – to include those children who had been grandfathered in the original act. In this way, Inslee’s bill will expand SCHIP funding to provide health insurance for children who are currently ineligible, even though they are at the same level of poverty as children in other states who are eligible. All of the House Democrats from Washington State are cosponsors of Inslee’s bill.