Fresh Loaf

In a move that seemed to anger as many Republicans as Democrats, President Bush vetoed the children’s health care program just before he left Washington, D.C., today to speak to the Chamber of Commerce in Lancaster, Penn. (The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce? Is that the best gig he can get?)

The veto has significant ramifications in Georgia. As Mike King pointed out in That Other Paper, it leaves 273,000 children who are enrolled in PeachCare in limbo. That’s on top of another 300,000 children who have no health insurance at all. Federal funding will be in place until Nov. 15, but unless a resolution is reached, PeachCare funds would run out at the end of November.

At least one prominent Republican, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, hopes the veto will be overridden. Reports the New York Times:

“Unfortunately, I believe that some have given the president bad advice on this matter,” said Hatch. He said supporting the health bill “is the morally right thing to do.”

Another Republican, Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, expressed similar sentiments and called Mr. Bush’s decision “an irresponsible use of the veto pen.”

“Today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children,” said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

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Several low-income families are filing a federal class-action lawsuit against two of the private HMOs that administer Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs, arguing that the firms are denying their children access to public health care.

Earlier this month, the companies, WellCare and the Peach State Health Plan, announced they were dropping two large providers of dental care from the state program. Help a Child Smile, which operates 12 mobile dental units, and Kool Smiles, which has 10 offices in Georgia, together serve about 100,000 low-income children. Kool Smiles’ patients alone account for about 25 percent of all kids eligible for state-funded dental care.

Most dentists in Georgia don’t accept PeachCare patients, meaning it could be difficult for the kids displaced from the two dropped providers to find someone to look after their teeth. And if they aren’t able to see a dentist, that’s less money the two HMOs have to pay in provider fees. Funny how that works.

Incidentally, the families are represented by state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta.

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On June 15, the state Department of Community Health announced that it will reopen enrollment for PeachCare, the health insurance program for children from low-income families. The department will let 10,000 to 15,000 children sign up starting July 12, according to Linda Lowe, a consumer health advocate.

In March, the department froze enrollment because federal money from Congress used to fund the program ran out. While the state covered some expenses for a while, there wasn’t enough money for more kids to enroll. And approximately 5,000 children were dropped from the program each month, Lowe noted in an e-mail, because of late premium payments.

Congress will reassess the funding situation and reauthorize the State Child Health Insurance Program that funds PeachCare sometime this fall, according to Lowe. In the meantime, PeachCare enrollment will be capped at 295,000 children.

Lowe wrote: “This is welcome news and a good first step!”

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Peach Pundit is reporting that U.S. senators Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., have proposed legislation that would fix and fully fund PeachCare. More later.

– Max Pizarro

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Georgia was one of the only states in the country where George W. Bush could show his mug in the last election. How does Bush repay the gracious, welcoming Peach State? By refusing to provide federal dollars to keep 270,000 low- and moderate-income children covered with health insurance through PeachCare.

In fairness, Georgia shouldn’t have expected much from Bush, grand patrician cultivator of America’s entrepreneurial spirit — and by extension, it shouldn’t expect much from itself, where that spirit has taken root.

But as soon as the president said he didn’t want to use money in the federal emergency budget for PeachCare, “Our state representatives should have provided the funding,” says Lauren Waits, policy director of the advocacy group Voices for Georgia’s Children.

Georgia needs $131 million to keep all of the children enrolled.

How naïve of Waits.

(more…)

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