Health Care System on the Road to Reform?

In what could be the first modest step toward a massive overhaul of the nation’s ailing healthcare system, the U.S. Senate has passed legislation designed to expand health insurance for millions of children.

The law, which would expand the existing State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), would add about four million children of the “working poor” to the ranks of the insured.

While the partisan nature of the Senate vote – which mostly followed party lines in passing with a tally of 66 to 32 — raised some eyebrows and serious questions about how efforts to pass additional reforms in the future will fare, the move to insure more children whose parents earn too much for Medicaid but cannot afford coverage on their own is a necessary step in the long journey.

Aimed at Helping Children of the ‘Working Poor’

The new bill mirrors legislation that was previously approved in the House. It would cover millions more children and cost about $33 billion over the next 4½ years.

SCHIP gives states help in providing health insurance for families that earn too much to qualify for coverage under Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance on their own. Medicaid is the federal medical insurance program for the poor and requires families to earn below a certain level in order to qualify.

The current program has been supported by both sides of the aisle, but attempts have been made to adjust the level of family income earnings that make children ineligible for coverage. Each state has its own rules for insuring children under SCHIP, but some insure children in families who earn more than twice the federal poverty line, which for a family of four is currently at $21,200.

It’s Time to Put Aside Partisan Politics for the Children

Partisan, political wrangling is never a positive thing, but when the health of millions of children is at stake, the division among leaders in Washington, D.C. becomes inexcusable. While good-faith debate and a desire to spend the public’s money wisely must be honored and part of the process, efforts to stall new legislation that can reasonably benefit children whose parents are caught in a Catch 22 – earning too much for Medicaid but too little to buy their own private health insurance – unnecessarily harms the innocent children.

The current, sad state of the United States health care system can be blamed, at least in part, on a history of political games played by both political parties. Democrats and Republicans alike seem to take great joy in sabotaging efforts by the other party to pass beneficial legislation, just to prevent credit from going to their political rivals.

While such tactics may come in handy during election season, when slinging mud at the other party is all but required, the uninsured children and others who are innocently caught in the middle end up covered in dirt.

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