NY’s Pediatricians Join State Leaders in Fight Against Federal Denial of Children’s Health Insurance Expansion

• by American Academy of Pediatrics, District II, New York State

ALBANY, NY (09/07/2007)(readMedia)-- Thousands of pediatricians across New York State reacted with puzzlement, frustration and anger to the federal government’s rejection of New York State’s effort to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“The federal denial flies in the face of reality,” said, Dr. Henry Schaeffer, Chair of the Academy of Pediatrics, District II, NYS. “Recent census data indicates that more and more Americans and more and more New Yorkers are losing employer based health coverage, and yet the federal government denies New York’s effort to offer health insurance to more uninsured children. This makes no sense.” said Dr. Schaeffer.

Nationally, the number of uninsured children went from 10.9 percent in 2005 to 11.7 percent in 2006. The federal government’s assertion that offering subsidized, affordable health insurance to families, so they can provide health coverage to their uninsured children, will somehow push people away from private insurance is not supported by the facts. Requiring some arbitrary percent of children enrolled to offer coverage to others is also counterintuitive. All the research done over the last decade has indicated that the wider the net for coverage the more children will be covered.

“To keep New York’s commitment to universal coverage for all children,” said Dr. Danielle Laraque, Vice Chair of AAP, District II, “we need to fight against this denial. Our goal is to help the state move forward to provide quality, affordable health care to all children”.

New York’s pediatricians urge our state leaders and our congressional delegation to push back against this unfair denial. The children of New York need strong and focused champions, so they can have the health care they need to stay healthy.

Proposing arbitrary regulations that have no basis in fact to deny children health care is counterproductive. The federal government is not supporting its own goals of leaving “no child behind.” Children without access to high quality health care are often the children who have difficulty in school, due to undiagnosed or untreated illness or miss more school due to illness which could have been treated earlier. Denying children access to health care is denying them the opportunity to grow up to be the healthiest most productive adults that they can be.

A large majority of New Yorkers support access to health care for all children. The state’s proposal to expand SCHIP would have gone a long way to achieving that goal. If the federal denial is allowed to stand, it will push back progress already made in New York and other states. The children of New York deserve our support. They and their families need help to keep their access to health care affordable.

Pediatricians across the state stand ready to work with our state leaders, and our congressional delegation to overturn the federal denial of New York’s request to expand the Child Health Plus program. The children and families of New York are counting on us to win this one for them.

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