Courtney Speaks Out on Expansion of Children’s Health Insurance
SCHIP
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
2/4/09
[TO BE ADDED TO WIRE COPY BY EDITORS AT THE DAY]
“We are going to move forward as a country towards universal health coverage,” Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said on the House floor. “Today will go down in history as an important step forward to accomplish that much-needed goal.”
Under the new law, the expanded program will insure 24,700 new children in Connecticut, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
That would reduce the number of uninsured children in the state—58,000 by one estimate—by 43 percent. That is slightly less than the 47 percent reduction nationwide that the report predicts.
Courtney said legislation for expanding children’s health insurance, which President George W. Bush vetoed twice in the fall of 2007, was long overdue.
“It’s a real validation of the change that took place in the November election that within two weeks we’re able to have a new administration finally get this issue resolved,” he said in an interview.
The program is aimed at children whose parents earn too much for Medicaid eligibility but not enough to pay for private health insurance.
Connecticut families may receive coverage under the law’s provisions if they earn no more than 300 percent of the poverty level. In past debates, some outside lawmakers criticized the threshold as too lenient, but many argued it was necessary because of Connecticut’s relatively high cost of living.
Courtney said the new law will lock in the current level required to receive coverage under Healthcare for Uninsured Kids and Youth, Connecticut’s subsidized health insurance program partially funded by the federal program.
The law also will expand dental coverage, raising the reimbursement rate for dentists who take on HUSKY patients to the rate the state employees’ health plan pays.
“You’re [no longer] going to have a situation where dentists refuse patients because they’re being paid at Medicaid rates, which were a disgrace,” Courtney said.
A 2006 study commissioned by the Connecticut Department of Social Services found that only 27 percent of frequent callers were able to obtain routine dental appointments for HUSKY children.
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