Voices Makes SCHIP Pitch In DC

7/05/2007

^{Voices ED Pat Willis with Rep. John Lewis.}

Voices for Georgia’s Children was on the offensive throughout the Georgia General Assembly’s 2007 session concluded in April to protect PeachCare for Kids, the state’s implementation of the federally subsidized insurance program for children of low-income households.  The successful program had been undermined by a funding shortfall that seriously threatened its viability.

PeachCare did survive despite a temporary enrollment freeze and proposed cuts but anxiety for participants in PeachCare didn’t end as Congress has yet to reauthorize the State’s Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) beyond its scheduled expiration in Sept. 2007.  Federal funds provide about two-thirds of dollars for each state program. That’s why Voices has remained engaged in this issue and ventured out of Atlanta to personally visit members of Georgia’s Congressional Delegation in their Washington DC offices. 

Executive director Pat Willis and policy director Lauren Waits spent a day in mid-June meeting with eleven legislators or their senior staff members, encouraging support for SCHIP. They were able to meet Reps. John Lewis, Phil Gingrey and Hank Johnson, as well as Senator Saxby Chambliss. Voices received logistical support and counsel from Voices for America’s Children in DC.  

Voices maintains that all children need health insurance. Expansion of PeachCare to include children from higher income households is a vital part of Voices’ goal for the state to reach nearly 100 percent health insurance coverage for children by 2008.  Action taken by Congress on SCHIP will be a major determinant.
In addition to support for expansion and swift reauthorization for SCHIP, Voices also asked legislators to co-sponsor the Education Begins at Home Act (EBAH), a program targeting specific groups of children and families for quality home visitation.
  
Feedback from members of Congress indicated a consensus for SCHIP reauthorization by September, but contrasting ideologies within Congress and the Whitehouse over the program’s size and scope may delay a vote.  Follow this issue at www.georgiavoices.org over the summer and ask your representatives to make children’s health insurance a priority.