CTA/NEA and Association allies are waging keen battles in the national Capitol to secure the reauthorization of an expiring federal program that funds health care services for more than three million needy children in the Medi-Cal program and another 800,000 in the Healthy Families program.
At issue is the fate of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a federally funded program that provides money used in California for children enrolled in the Healthy Families and Medi-Caid programs.
(Gaining children health care coverage in these programs is the aim of the CTA-backed Teachers for Healthy Kids outreach, which seeks to inform parents about the opportunities open to them and their children.)
According to the non-partisan California Budget Project, federal funding shortfalls are jeopardizing services to the Healthy Families program and Medi-Caid. CBP estimates that shortfalls in federal funding could result in more than 700,000 California children losing health coverage in FFY 2012.
Congress pledged to increase federal funding for the program nationally, but the Bush administration has proposed allocating only $5 billion and reducing the number of children eligible to participate.
A recent study by the CBP found that many California children are already excluded from the vital federal funding, and the state has been spending more than the federal government has been providing under auspices of SCHIP.
(See the graph embedded below from the California Budget Project.)
Without congressional reauthorization, the SCHIP program will sunset at the end of September.
Ironically, the scheduled expiration – and the Bush administration’s decision to hold down funding – comes at a time when the public is demanding and California policy makers are seeking ways to expand health care protections to all 6.6 million Californians who are not now covered.
• CTA Members:
Urge your Congressional Representatives and your U.S. Senators to support the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP.