Program for uninsured children valued

As a Las Vegas pediatric intensive care unit nurse, Patricia Moore has seen the consequences of children going without health insurance.

There was the 12-year-old diabetic boy who ended up unresponsive in an emergency room because his parents couldn’t afford insulin. There was the infant dying of untreated pneumonia.

She also knows the benefits of the federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is up for renewal.

Congress is slated to decide on the amount of funding the program, also known as SCHIP, will get in upcoming weeks.

“Studies show that uninsured children are twice as likely to die in a hospital as opposed to their counterparts with insurance,” Moore said during a teleconference Friday to discuss the benefits of SCHIP in Nevada.

If Congress approves a $50 billion expansion of SCHIP, Nevada is set to receive $373 million in new funding to address its uninsured children — estimated at 106,000. Nevada also stands to gain $139 million in increased business, $54 million in increased wages and 1,400 new jobs as a result of the possible SCHIP expansion, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a consumer health organization.

SCHIP, known in the Silver State as Nevada Checkup, provides care for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the very poor, and too little to buy coverage on their own.

The program grew out of a bipartisan agreement 10 years ago and was budgeted for $40 billion. It expires in September.

Both houses of Congress have passed budget resolutions setting aside $50 billion for SCHIP and Medicaid for the next five years. However, in order for the funds to be released, two things must occur: Congress must re-authorize the program and also find a way to pay for it through new revenues or a reduction in federal spending.

“That’s is going to be the toughest part,” Pollack said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said Friday that she will have direct involvement in ensuring SCHIP is re-authorized and funded. Nevada’s uninsured children need it, she said.

“It is critical to the future of these families and the entire state of Nevada,” Berkley said. “If you don’t have healthy children or healthy families, you’re not going to have much of anything.”

Some Nevada health officials have said the state’s problem with uninsured children doesn’t just stem from a lack of funding but poor efforts in reaching those eligible for federal and state programs.

Pollack said if SCHIP is expanded, the federal government is exploring ways to improve enrollment, such as by automatically enrolling children when they are signed up for the free- and reduced-lunch programs. He said states also might be eligible for certain incentives depending on how many children they enroll into SCHIP.

Federal funding for SCHIP is provided annually through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Nevada receives $2.10 from the federal government for each dollar spent on Nevada Checkup.

Nevada Checkup and Nevada Medicaid are offered only to children who are U.S. citizens and whose parents earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level — roughly $34,340 for a family of three.