From The New York Times, 1/12/04:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/12/opinion/12HERB.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists
By BOB HERBERT
MIAMI
The State of Florida really knows how to hurt a kid.
It has money for sports stadiums.
It lavishes billions of dollars' worth of tax breaks and other goodies
on private corporations.
It even has money for a substantial reserve fund.
But, in an episode of embarrassing and unnecessary tightfistedness, it
has frozen enrollment in a badly needed state health insurance program
for low-income children.
Some 60,000 to 70,000 children who are eligible for KidCare, Florida's
version of the popular and successful children's health insurance
program, have been put on waiting lists.
Even kids who already have serious health problems are being placed on
the lists, which are lengthening every day.
No one knows when -- or if -- the children will get coverage.
"We've had families tell us they've put off buying groceries so they
can afford to take their child to the doctor," said Conni Wells,
director of the Florida Institute for Family Involvement, which
advises families on health matters.
The institute has alerted officials to the plight of a family in
Jacksonville that has three sons who need medical care now.
The boys' father had been laid off for a while and during that period
the children were covered by Medicaid.
Now that the father has resumed working, the children have been
bounced off Medicaid but qualify for coverage under KidCare.
They're on a waiting list.
(The family can't afford private health insurance.)
One of the boys, a 14-year-old, broke his back a year ago and still
needs extensive therapy.
A younger brother needs an expensive growth hormone and has asthma.
A third son also has asthma.
Florida officials will not say when the children might actually get
coverage.
Most of the children on the waiting list are from families whose
incomes are just over the poverty line.
(The children of the very poor are covered by Medicaid.)
The freeze was imposed at the end of July, ostensibly because of state
budget problems.
But the Florida budget problems are not as bad as those in many other
states.
Since last July Florida has qualified for nearly $1 billion in help
from the federal government, which has come up with $400 million in
increased Medicaid matching funds and more than $500 million in a
fiscal relief grant.
The cost of providing the authorized coverage for the tens of
thousands of youngsters on the KidCare waiting lists is estimated at
just $23 million for the remainder of this fiscal year.
The money from the federal government could be used for that purpose,
but Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature have not been willing to
take that step.
These kids are not part of a particularly favored constituency.
Their parents do not have much political clout, and may not even vote.
Some of the kids may end up desperately ill (some may die), but as a
group they are not the kind of kids who get a lot of attention or
sympathy from the powers that be in Florida today.
A spokesman for Governor Bush, Jacob DiPietre, told me yesterday that
no immediate action is planned to provide health coverage to the
children on the waiting lists.
"Be assured that the governor and his entire administration are
concerned about the waiting list," he said.
But he added, "This is a problem that requires a long-term,
sustainable solution."
And he made a point of noting, "The KidCare program is not an
entitlement."
Florida is one of 34 states that have made serious cuts in public
health insurance programs for low-income people over the past two
years.
A study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that from
1.2 million to 1.6 million men, women and children have lost coverage
as a result.
The cuts are spreading, not receding, as states look for solutions to
budget problems that in many cases are far more severe than Florida's.
On Thursday President Bush and Governor Bush made a joint appearance
in Palm Beach, where the president picked up a quick million dollars
for his re-election campaign.
There was plenty of laughter and glad-handing, and little talk about
such unpleasant matters as the denial of health care to low-income
children.
____________________________________________________
Screwing low-income children is a Bush family tradition.
Harry
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