Assembly Member Faults Bush on Kids’ Insurance
President Bush's veto of legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program "has the potential to devastate every level of health care for the most at-risk children," Assembly member Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley) writes in an Oakland Tribune opinion piece.
Healthy Families, California's version of SCHIP, will face a $342 million funding gap because of the president's veto, according to Hayashi.
Citing problems with Medicaid dental benefits, Hayashi writes that although California lawmakers "have embarked on a road to reform health care in California, I am not certain our plan adequately addresses the needs of low-income children or their families."
She urges Californians to call on Congress to reauthorize and increase funding for SCHIP (Hayashi, Oakland Tribune, 11/28).