ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997 TAG: 9703310024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
The CHILD Act, a proposed federal-state program to subsidize health insurance for uninsured children, would address both social and fiscal responsibilities.
VIRGINIA DIDN'T make the list of 10 worst states in the percentage of its children who are uninsured. But then, it isn't among the 10 best either.
The state earned a gentleman's "C," ranking 25th among the states in a comparison made by the Children's Defense Fund, based on Census Bureau surveys from March 1994 to 1996. Worse news in Virginia, as in the nation overall, is that the trend is heading in the wrong direction.
A slightly different measure, the percentage of children with private health insurance, shows Virginia slipped from 77.8 percent in a two-year period from 1987-89 to 71.4 percent from 1993-95. Coverage in all states eroded an average 7.9 percent. Those statistics translate into 3,000 children every day who are being dropped from private insurance plans nationwide.
CHILD, or the Child Health Insurance and Lower Deficit Act, is one of several bills being considered in Congress that could help turn those numbers around. The legislation, proposed by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is an amalgam of social and fiscal responsibility produced by New Democrat and kinder, gentler Republican cooperation.
There is a logic in linking the long-range benefits both of good child care and fiscal accountability.
More than 10.5 million children of mostly working-class, two-parent families have no health insurance today. The number will swell by more than 2 million by the year 2000 if private coverage continues to fall at its current pace.
What impact does lack of insurance have on these children? Those with asthma often go untreated until they have to be hospitalized. One-third of those with recurring ear infections never see a doctor, and many suffer permanent hearing loss as a result. Children poisoned by lead paint go undiagnosed, putting them at risk of mental retardation.
Pre- and postnatal care, timely immunizations, treatment of injuries - all sorts of inexpensive medical care is ignored, risking expensive consequences later. Can there be any doubt that ensuring routine care would be cost-effective over time?
CHILD would add a hefty 43 cents a pack to the federal cigarette tax, and apply one-third of the revenue to deficit reduction, the remainder to grants to states that agree to help families buy insurance for their children. Smart investments on both counts.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB