Coverage should be priority for Bush
Mercury News Editorial

When it comes to health care reform on the national or state level, coverage for uninsured children should be the first priority. Every one pretty much agrees on that.

Except, perhaps, President Bush.

The president knows that the decade-old, $5 billion federal program that helps provide coverage for more than 6 million American children is set to expire Sept. 30. But his silence on the issue during his State of the Union address last week was deafening.

The president should make it clear that he wants to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, better known as CHIP. And Congress should push him to find money in the federal budget to help states expand the program until all 8 million uninsured children in the United States have coverage.

One of Bush's fellow Republicans, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, understands CHIP's beauty. It provides states with federal matching funds to provide health care to children of families with incomes that are too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough to afford private insurance.

In California, the program pioneered in Santa Clara County is known as Healthy Families, and it provides low-cost health coverage to more than 750,000 children. Schwarzenegger wants to expand Healthy Families to ensure every California child has access to coverage. At present, that equates to 800,000 uninsured California kids, more than 650,000 of whom are citizens or came here legally.

Insuring all of California's children will help alleviate the "hidden tax'' of $1,186 the average California family pays to subsidize health care for the uninsured. The money goes to hospital emergency rooms, which are the last resort for uninsured families -- and the most expensive.

But it's not just the money. Californians and all Americans have a vested interest in the health of children. Kids who have regular checkups and vision and dental coverage do better in school and are much more likely to become productive members of society.

Since the federal program began in 1997, all 50 states have adopted programs to take advantage of it.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, says: "We should all agree, irrespective of political party, that every child must have access to health care.'' That's a sentiment shared by Schwarzenegger and many Republican senators.

Even though covering children is less expensive than covering adults, it's still not cheap. According to the California Budget Project, the state will need more than $2 billion during the next five years just to support the current program.

But Bush must understand that the long-term savings and the benefits to society will more than justify the short-term costs. Fortunately, there are plenty of governors and lawmakers in his own party who can explain it to him.

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