SCHIP Reauthorization Act

Last month, over 600,000 people filed for unemployment assistance and more and more workers face pay cuts or forced time off. What does that mean for our children? More of them will loose access to private insurance, either due to a lost job, reduced income, or benefit cuts. That is a lot of burden on a family and could be a bigger burden on the taxpayer. On February 4th, President Obama signed the SCHIP Reauthorization Act into law. This extremely important piece of legislation couldn't come at a more opportune time. The SCHIP Reauthorization Act will provide coverage for kids that live under 300% of the federal poverty level ($66,150 for a family of 4). In a time when a family is facing difficult financial issues, knowing that your child can go to the doctor will now be one less worry. And for the tax payer, giving parents the capability of providing early intervention services will reduce wasteful emergency room visits and high-cost health care services. One way of providing quality, easily accessible, and cost efficient health care to kids is the school-based health center. Those of you familiar with the Health Foundation know that we support this model of care delivery. Thanks to the hard work of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care and Representative Stabenow's office, the SCHIP Reauthorization Act included a definition of school-based health centers. This is the first time SBHCs have been defined in any federal insurance reimbursement program and provides the path for future opportunities in the Public Health Service Act. I would like to thank everyone (advocates and elected officials) who supported and worked on getting this legislation written and passed. Our children need our support and access to health care services.