The many reasons to expand SCHIP

The Nov. 2 letter to the editor by Maureen Lydon, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, being a recapitulation of some of President Bush's recent statements on SCHIP, is so rife with misinformation it makes my head explode.

First, Medicaid is for the poor. SCHIP was originally passed by a Republican Congress to assist middle-class families because of sky-rocketing health-care costs. Health care for an average family of four now costs in excess of $12,100 per year, approximately 30 percent of an average American salary. Second, the 20-percent increase proposed by President Bush would result in fewer kids being covered over the life of the bill, based on projected health-care cost increases. With medical-related personal bankruptcies increasing by 2,200 percent between 1981 and 2001, compared with a 360-percent growth in bankruptcies overall, and medical-related debt now the second leading cause of personal bankruptcy, the current Congress determined more children should be covered, not fewer.

Third, only two states covered parents, as these states feared that many parents would not otherwise bring their kids in for needed medical care. The second iteration of the recently passed bill would get rid of this provision in one year rather than two years as provided for in the first iteration of the bill.

Fourth, the original bill, as well as the recent first and second iterations, cover families at 200 percent of poverty, currently about $42,000. The first iteration allowed states to request an exemption of President Bush from the 200-percent restriction. New York state, the $83,000 example in Ms. Lydon's letter, did so after Congress passed the first iteration, as New York City is the most expensive city in which to live in North America. President Bush immediately rejected this request, even before he vetoed the bill. The second iteration deleted this exemption provision.

Fifth, millions of children have no health insurance coverage because their parents cannot afford to pay for insurance or cannot obtain insurance because of a child's pre-existing condition. From 2000 to 2006, insurance premiums rose by 73.8 percent, but U.S. median income only increased 11.6 percent. Additionally, data from the Census Bureau, the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services found that between 2000 and 2005, the number of uninsured in the U.S. increased while the number covered by employer-sponsored insurance declined.

Sixth, SCHIP costs are to be covered by increased cigarette taxes. So yes, working people would pay more taxes if they buy cigarettes. Some members of Congress also noted their hope that increased cigarette taxes, making cigarette purchases even more expensive, would prevent more kids from starting to smoke.

Tom Bartlett-Svehla

Mundelein