Deal on health plan is possible

By MEL MARTINEZ, Special to the Times
Published October 8, 2007

I support making sure all of our nation's children have access to health care. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, more commonly known as SCHIP, is a program I want to see reauthorized; it's one I want to see expanded within the original spirit of the program.

But the bill President Bush vetoed last week and sent back to Capitol Hill recently seeks to expand the program beyond its original intent. It expands it to the point where we would be making government-sponsored health care available well beyond the original intent of the program to include families making more than three times the federal poverty level.

The current version of SCHIP would create an $80-billion to $100-billion program over five years to do something we could achieve with $35-billion to $40-billion - and the result would be the same: Ten million children from low income families will have health insurance.

Now that the president has vetoed SCHIP and support for a congressional override is unlikely, it is essential that we come together as Republicans and Democrats to talk about viable alternatives - something that would ensure the reauthorization of a SCHIP that expands, rather than diminishes, private health insurance coverage for children.

I have introduced an alternative reauthorization proposal composed of three elements - a full reauthorization of SCHIP, a child health care tax credit, and an aggressive outreach program to ensure all children eligible for the program have the opportunity to sign up for insurance.

The first element enacts a full reauthorization of SCHIP, where we would continue to cover children in families with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. (That is the current income limit in Florida.)

The second element of my proposal advances tax credits to families with incomes of between 200 percent and 300 percent of the poverty level. If a family doesn't have insurance, a credit provides the resources necessary to go out and purchase health care. Families would have the ability to purchase health care coverage tailored to their children's unique needs.

The third element would enhance outreach for children who are currently eligible for SCHIP coverage but who are not currently enrolled. It's estimated that between 500,000 and 1.5-million children are eligible for health insurance coverage but are not enrolled simply because they don't know the program exists.

Make no mistake: The underlying debate is not whether we're going to provide health insurance for our nation's children. We all agree that our society can afford to take care of the health needs of children in need. The dispute is over how that goal is achieved.

A real compromise needs to be reached, one that keeps with the spirit of SCHIP, one that adds provisions to help find children currently eligible for assistance and signs them up for insurance. We need a compromise that doesn't simply broaden the program's eligibility so that people on private health insurance are forced to move to government-sponsored health insurance because an employer sees an opportunity for cost savings.

The difference between the SCHIP proposal that was vetoed and my alternative is that their proposal moves the eligible population to a system of government health insurance and the problems incumbent with that system, such as low reimbursement rates for doctors and a smaller pool of health care providers to choose from. My proposal is patient-focused; it retains for families the choice of providers and practitioners and gives parents the resources necessary to add their children to their existing health care plan.

I look forward to continuing working with my colleagues in the coming days to strike a middle ground compromise on SCHIP. Rest assured - Congress will reach agreement, and when we do America's children will benefit.

Mel Martinez is a United States senator from Florida and primary sponsor of a bill to reauthorize the current SCHIP law.

[Last modified October 7, 2007, 20:43:19]