NYT: Governors Worry Over Money for Child Health Program: Express alarm, appeal to Bush, Congress

Governors Worry Over Money for Child Health Program
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: February 25, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — As the National Governors Association began its winter meeting, 13 governors expressed alarm on Saturday that they were about to run out of federal money for a popular program that provides health insurance to children.

They appealed to Congress and the Bush administration for swift action to protect hundreds of thousands of children who could lose benefits. The full association is poised to endorse that appeal.

In a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress, the 13 governors said that “health insurance for some of our states’ most vulnerable citizens is in jeopardy.”

“Without quick Congressional action,” the letter said, “our states, all facing federal shortfalls, will be forced to make harsh decisions affecting the lives of thousands of families.”...

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The program in question, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, covers more than six million children in families that have too much income to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/us/25govs.html

Needy parents are without insurance or health care.

can't meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, what the hell are we fighting overseas for? Why sacrifice our children if all we end up with is a government which penalizes the poor, and heaps more treasure on the rich? Is that result anything we should be dying for? Don't tell me freedom, because we can already be arrested without having charges brought, without access to an attorney, and tortured.

If our country is going to sink to the sewer of humanity, can't we at least feed and provide medical care for the least among us, until they are dragged off to an unknown destination? Sorry, I guess my disgust for the current administration in the White House influences my thinking nowadays.

despising of the poor sickens me.

our children will be going to madrassas over here. Or something like that..... :shrug:

IMO, this is about the way the history of the Iraq war will be written
in 20 years or so, along with grim descriptions of a dark era in American life. Vast, hidden expenditures for the war; price to be paid later.

Governors from both parties appealed Sunday for the Bush administration and Congress to provide more money — now and over the long term — for a health care program that insures millions of children.

At stake is coverage for 6 million people, overwhelmingly children, as well as the hopes of many governors in tackling the larger challenge of the uninsured. All governors rely on the program, intended to aid uninsured working families.

"We can come to a consensus that children should be the first priority," said Gov. Sonny Perdue, R-Ga.

State leaders met privately to discuss the State Children's Health Insurance Program at their annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

"This is one area where I think people stand entirely together," said Gov. Jon Corzine, D-N.J.

Georgia and New Jersey are two of 14 states that are expected to run out of money for the program before the next budget year begins in October; in Georgia, it could be as soon as March.



http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-46/1172438049155440.xml&storylist=penn