Courtney Pushes For 'Healthy Kids Act'

As printed in The New London Day, March 15, 2007:

There are currently 49,192 children in Connecticut who qualify for Medicaid or HUSKY health care but are not enrolled, says the American Academy of Pediatrics.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois held a press conference to announce their push for legislation that would get those children the health care they need.

The bill, dubbed "The Healthy Kids Act," is a reauthorization of legislation first passed a decade ago, but with changes that would make it easier for children to enroll in health-care programs both in Connecticut and nationwide, where there are an estimated 6.8 million children who have no coverage.

Both Courtney and Emanuel said President Bush's proposed funding for children's health care would fall far short of what's needed.

While the independent Congressional Research Service estimates the program will need an increase of $13 billion to $15 billion over the next five years to maintain current services, Bush has only requested $5 billion over the next five years.

"The president's proposal would actually turn the clock backward," Courtney said. "We would literally be throwing thousands of kids out of the program if we adopted his proposal."

The proposed legislation would improve children's access to health care by streamlining the enrollment process and giving states a bonus - a 2-percentage-point increase in the federal funding match - for doing do, the congressmen said.

Emanuel outlined some of the ways in which states can streamline the process.

"Schools can be the best recruitment for getting kids into the program," he said. "If you're eligible for WIC or school lunches," the forms parents fill out for those services would automatically enroll the child in the health care program.

"By cutting down on bureaucracy you can enroll kids," said Emanuel. "You would automatically pick up millions of children by just making what they do everyday in the schools part of the enrollment."

The bill will also give families who are not eligible for Medicaid or HUSKY a "Healthy Savings Tax Credit" they could use to buy health coverage for their children.

Of the 73,421 Connecticut children currently uninsured in Connecticut, Courtney said, 49,192 would qualify for HUSKY coverage and the remaining 24,228 could get coverage through the tax credit.

Courtney and Emanuel said the bill had wide support from both sides of the aisle in Congress, so they are optimistic it will be passed.

"I think we're going to have a really strong bipartisan basis for support," Courtney said.

The Healthy Kids Act is expected to cost approximately $60 billion over the next five years.