Ťhousands of Children Removed From Public Health Insurance Programs While PA Loses Bonus Money
(Philadelphia, PA) January 16, 2013 – Thousands of children in Southeastern Pennsylvania have lost access to state-subsidized health insurance. Meanwhile, the state is forgoing hundreds of millions in federal funds that could pay for the coverage and its expansion to more children.
The latest figures from the state Department of Public Welfare (DPW) show that child Medicaid enrollment in the five-county region has declined by 33,102 children from August 2011-December 2012. In Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties the number of children who lost Medicaid were 2,596, 2,872, 817 respectively.
However, at 9.44 percent, Chester County’s 2,208 decrease is greater than the 9.0 percent decline in Philadelphia (24,609). CHIP enrollments also are down in Bucks and Delaware counties.
Colleen McCauley, Health Director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), questions why kids are having difficulty obtaining public health insurance – despite the continued economic downturn and the fact that Pennsylvania has not changed its CHIP and Medicaid eligibility requirements.
“In 2007, the Pennsylvania legislature created Cover All Kids, the state’s public health insurance program, which offers an affordable health insurance option for nearly every child in the commonwealth,” McCauley says, noting that passage was a bipartisan effort. “But since the summer of 2011, there has been a precipitous decline in children enrolled in Medicaid, and in the last two years the number of children enrolled in CHIP has declined in the region as well.”
Additionally, as a result of not making the enrollment process simpler – and not qualifying for the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) performance bonuses – from FY 2009-11 the state missed the opportunity to earn $300 million in federal incentive payments that could have been used to support the Cover All Kids program. Pennsylvania forfeited an estimated $104 million CHIRPA incentive bonus for 2012.
“It is inexcusable for Pennsylvania children to be losing access to health insurance, especially during these difficult economic times when parents have so little income to pay out of pocket for health care needs,” McCauley says. “Why the state has not made enrollment simpler and drawn down these federal incentive rewards either shows benign neglect or callous disregard for the welfare of children on the part of officials in Harrisburg.”