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GOVERNORS SPITZER AND SCHWARZENEGGER CALL ON PRESIDENT BUSH TO REVERSE FEDERAL RULING DENYING HEALTH CARE COVERAGE TO THOUSANDS OF UNINSURED CHILDREN

Governor Eliot Spitzer and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined together today in calling on President George Bush to reverse new rules instituted by his administration to deny thousands of children health care coverage.

On August 17, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), announced new rules governing the program. Among these were the requirement that until a state enrolls 95 percent of those eligible for SCHIP in households making under 200 percent of the poverty line ($41,300 for a family of four), they cannot provide coverage to children in families making above 250 percent of the poverty line ($51,625 for a family of four).

In a letter sent to the President today, Governor Spitzer and Governor Schwarzenegger called on CMS to reverse this action in order to allow states that contain areas with higher costs of living, like New York and California, to have the flexibility to cover more children. Moreover, they also asked CMS to repudiate other troublesome new rules, including the requirement that children eligible for SCHIP must go without coverage during a year-long waiting period after enrolling, and that states expanding SCHIP must have a less than 2 percent decline in employer-sponsored insurance.

“Ensuring that all children in this country have access to quality health care is a foremost national priority and an issue that rises above party lines,” said Governor Spitzer. “States are showing great leadership on this issue and New York was proud to achieve a bi-partisan agreement this year to provide health care to the state’s 400,000 uninsured children. Governor Schwarzenegger and I are joining together today to call on President Bush to do the right thing and roll back these troubling federal roadblocks. These federal rules represent the wrong prescription for our children and will deny thousands of children access to the health insurance they need and deserve.”

This action specifically jeopardizes Governor Spitzer’s plan, passed by the New York State legislature in April, to increase eligibility to 400 percent of the poverty line and thereby offer universal coverage to New York’s children. While every state aspires to cover every eligible child possible, no state has yet reached the 95 percent threshold. In New York, 88 percent of such children are enrolled.

Governor Spitzer and Governor Schwarzenegger share the President’s goal of ensuring that the program does not become a substitute for employer-sponsored insurance, but they believe the new rules fail to recognize that declining health insurance trends are related to other issues besides public coverage, such as reductions in benefit packages for low-income workers.

This letter is the latest in a series of efforts Governor Spitzer is undertaking to try to reverse these federal rules which have included reaching out to the New York Congressional Delegation. Earlier this week, on August 27, the Governor appeared with Congressman Charles Rangel to announce his intention to take legal action against CMS. The new rules contradict the provisions of the federal SCHIP law and were imposed without notice or the required comment period as required by the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

California and New York currently cover more than 1.4 million children and pregnant women through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. This represents nearly 25 percent of all SCHIP enrollees in the country.

A copy of the letter is attached.