AUSTIN - Valley Interfaith leader Rosalie Tristan and her ten year-old son Miguel are fast becoming the face of CHIP enrollment problems in the South Texas.

First, the Tristans, from Raymondville, were interviewed by an Austin TV crew about the lack of health coverage for Miguel.

Then, on Sunday, mother and son appeared on KRGV-TV’s Valley Newsline with Ron Whitlock show.

Rosalie Tristan told Whitlock how the state had a “great program that was not being implemented correctly.” She recounted her own horror story about how her children had been knocked off CHIP, even though she had correctly submitted all the required paperwork.

“I said how can you be missing paperwork when I submitted everything? I have copies here of what I submitted. And you only have half of it?” Tristan said. Her frustration was exacerbated by having to wait up to 50 minutes on the phone for a live person.

“It makes me angry,” Tristan said. “I have worked 22 years for a firm. I have paid my debt to society. I still pay my taxes today and I expect that money that I have invested into the state be invested back into our working families.”

Also appearing on Valley Newsline was Chris Caldera, a second grade teacher at Pittman Elementary in Raymondville.

Miguel Tristan was one of 27,567 Texas children who lost coverage in October 2006 because the private contractor running the service, Accenture lost the paperwork. His mother testified about the poor service at a House Human Services Committee hearing earlier this month.

“Navigating the Accenture call center has been a nightmare. Not just for me but for thousands of families in the Rio Grande Valley and across the state,” Tristan told the Guardian, as she waited to testify before the Human Services Committee.

Tristan said she knew from her work with Valley Interfaith that her personal story was being replicated across the Valley. “We hear stories like mine, hundreds of stories in the Valley,” she said.

Valley Interfaith celebrated last week when Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins announced that his agency would begin winding down its $899 million contract with Accenture’s Texas Access Alliance and transition day-to-day management of CHIP operations and call centers back to state staff.

“We urge state and private agencies to be meticulous in the transition process so that children and families do not get dropped,” Tristan said.

Valley Interfaith members Moses Robledo, from Edinburg, Cristina Martinez, from Weslaco, and Ninfa Alvaredo, from San Juan, were among those pushing for more CHIP funding at the Capitol Monday.

HB 109, authored by Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, was being debated on the House floor.

Among other things, HB 109 eliminates the 90-day waiting period for coverage to begin, doubles the period of eligibility from 6 months to 12 months, and substantially reforms the assets test.

Total allowable asset value would be raised from $5,000 to $10,000, a parent’s child care expenses would be considered in calculating net income level, and an increase in vehicle values would be incorporated. Turner’s bill also restores community outreach.

Robledo said he was surprised how much support there was for CHIP.

“We thought this bill was only of interest to the Valley but we found bipartisan support from across the state. It was a pleasant surprise to see how much support the bill has,” Robledo said.

HB 109 also has the support of the Texas Medical Association. To coincide with the House debate, the TMA put out a handout saying Turner’s bill was a “sensible bipartisan compromise.”

The TMA said HB 109 makes good economic sense because it maximizes CHIP’s federal match rate.

“Texas receives $2.64 in federal matching funds for every state dollar invested in CHIP, a better federal rate than our Medicaid match of $1.55. This match rate means we can buy $120 in coverage for $39 or less a month,” the TMA stated.

The handout also said that Ray Perryman, a nationally-recognized economist, has calculated that for every $1 in state funds cut in CHIP and Medicaid, Texas’ businesses pay out-of-pocket increases in taxes and insurance of $1.58, and every Texan’s health insurance premiums increase by $1.34.

Increased CHIP funding is also supported by the Texas Border Coalition, an advocacy group representing cities and counties from El Paso to Brownsville.

When the TBC adopted its legislative agenda in Austin in December, the TBC agreed to push for a restoration of CHIP and Medicaid funding to fiscal year 2003 levels. The group said it also wanted to eliminate CHIP and Medicaid program changes made in 2003 that imposed a barrier to participation and limited access to quality health care.