EPISO, other groups push CHIP expansion
February 19, 2009
Expanding eligibility would make CHIP available to about 80,000 uninsured El Paso families, said Jorge Salazar, administrator of community programs at Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe.
Written by Brandi Grissom, The El Paso Times
AUSTIN -- Lawmakers should make more children of working-class Texans eligible for a state-federal health-care insurance program, El Paso community leaders said at a news conference Wednesday.
"Investing in children's health is an investment in the future," said Eloiso DeAvila, a leader in the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization.
Members of EPISO and Border Interfaith were among several community groups from across the state that urged lawmakers to make the Children's Health Insurance Program available to families with higher incomes.
The program, known as CHIP, provides low-cost health insurance to families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance premiums.
Currently, families qualify only if they earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $42,400 for a family of four.
President Barack Obama recently signed legislation that allows states to increase eligibility to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $63,600 for a family of four.
The community leaders urged Texas lawmakers to allow families with those higher incomes to pay low monthly premiums to enroll their children in CHIP.
DeAvila said providing health-care coverage for more children is critical in El Paso, where many lack insurance and where drug violence Juárez has cut off a vital source that some families relied on for inexpensive medical treatment.
"It has exacerbated the problems about health care in El Paso," DeAvila said.
Several lawmakers, including state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, have filed proposals that would expand CHIP to families with higher incomes.
Anne Dunkelberg -- associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin-based think tank that advocates for low- and middle-income families -- said she estimated allowing middle-income families to buy into CHIP with monthly premiums would insure about 100,000 more children and cost Texas about $20 million.
Expanding eligibility would make CHIP available to about 80,000 uninsured El Paso families, said Jorge Salazar, administrator of community programs at Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe.
But he said any new money for CHIP should also include a plan to spread information about it.
"There's a bunch of them (people) out there that don't even know they qualify," he said.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry opposes expanding CHIP to families that make more money, said spokeswoman Allison Castle.
The focus for CHIP, she said, should be on getting those who already qualify to enroll in the program.
"Bigger government programs are not the answer to our health-care problems," Castle said.
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