Don't be too quick to do the right thing. When it comes to children's health care, that's the deplorable message the federal government continues to send our state.
Ten years ago Washington state made a priority of getting children - especially those in households below the poverty line - access to consistent and reliable health care through the State Children's Health Insurance Program. One of Gov. Chris Gregoire's top goals is to have all children in the state covered by some form of health insurance by 2010. A bill recently signed into law made substantial progress toward that goal.
But as things are now, the state has to dig deeper into its own pockets than most other states to make sure enough children get adequate health care. Other states receive much more federal funding than Washington to do the same thing.
When the SCHIP legislation passed for the first time in 1997, the feds used a complicated formula to figure out how much money each state should get to take care of children who lived in households making up to $37,700 a year - twice the federal poverty level. Washington only needed 20 percent of its total allotment to reach that limit and consequently lost access to the rest. The same thing happened to about a dozen other states.
So because those states acted rather than waiting for Congress to do so, their children are penalized.
It's good to know that our leaders aren't at the mercy of federal powers when it comes to important issues like health care, but it would be reassuring to know that citizens could rely on Congress to be fair when it comes to that issue. Striking out on its own has cost Washington an estimated $200 million in funding over the last decade, according to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office.
Cantwell serves on the Senate Finance Committee, which is in charge of drafting legislation for the SCHIP, and she's fighting to make sure that Washington isn't stranded again when that legislation comes up for reauthorization in September. We applaud her efforts.
Making sure children have early and consistent access to health care is a wise investment that saves society money in the long run by finding and treating problems before they become serious. Preventing chronic disease is always cheaper than treating it. Plus, healthy children are better able to learn, leading to a more productive life.
