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Child advocates want PeachCare restored Child advocacy groups and the Georgia Coalition United for a Responsible Budget are calling on Gov. Perdue and state legislators to fix PeachCare's immediate funding problem without further delay and to defeat HB 340 cutting PeachCare eligibility and benefits. They say the funding stall is troubling, but the worse threat to PeachCare now is HB 340. PeachCare for Kids, Georgia's highly successful version of SCHIP, the State Child Health Insurance Program, covers 278,000 children in working families with modest incomes. For a reasonable monthly premium, children receive preventive services and dental and vision care as well as necessary medical services. More than one Georgia child in 10 is enrolled in PeachCare. (Maps of the number of children enrolled by county, percentage of county's children enrolled, and county enrollment above or below state percentage can be found at www.georgiavoices.org.) Because of a delay in the federal SCHIP reauthorization by Congress, Peach- Care has a short-term federal funding gap. Gov. Perdue and legislative leaders announced earlier this month they were putting money in the budget to fill the temporary federal funding gap which will cause the program to run out of money near the end of March. "Now," says Linda Lowe, a consumer health advocate, "the budget is delayed, PeachCare enrollment is still frozen, and there is a dangerous proposal in HB 340 to deny PeachCare to thousands of children in working families every year and to cut services for children who are not enrolled." HB 340 went to the House floor Tuesday, March 27. This bill would require the Department of Community Health to base PeachCare on a plan designed for state employees widely viewed as inadequate coverage for many children's health care needs. This could mean cutting back services such as physical, occupational and speech therapies that are necessary for children with special needs, as well as mental health and substance abuse services and prescriptions. The bill would also make families with modest incomes pay extra for dental or vision services. According to Georgia's recent third grade oral health survey, more than a quarter of third graders have untreated tooth decay, and teachers say dental pain is a leading cause of school absences. That is why 49 out of 50 states now cover dental services in their SCHIP plans. HB 340 would also cut the income eligibility limit from 235 percent of the federal poverty level to 200 percent in June, allowing the Department of Community Health to drop it further to 185 percent of poverty or increase it to 225 percent. This means the income limit could drop from the current $40,350 to as low as $31,765 for a family of three. Current enrollees could stay in PeachCare, but thousands of children in hard-working families who cannot afford other insurance or whose companies close down would be denied PeachCare and an appropriate health care home for their children. Advocates say HB 340 would hurt children and undermine one of the state's most effective programs. "Cutting access to health care for children is not saving PeachCare. It denies care to the children of parents working hard to put food on the table but not making enough to pay skyrocketing insurance premiums. It forces health care back into the emergency room and sows the seeds of future problems," says Pat Willis, executive director of Voices for Georgia's Children. Some officials are trying to justify cutting the health services PeachCare covers for children because state employees do not have access to coverage that is as good. "We, too, believe the children of state workers and teachers should have access to affordable, childcentered services like PeachCare's," says Patricia Showell, president and CEO of Families First. But the state should address that need without cutting coverage for other children." Adds Linda Lowe, "The state has a readily available way to do that for lowerincome employees in HB 620, and the federal government would pay over 60 percent of the cost. Legislators should adopt that plan. There is no reason whatsoever for cutting PeachCare coverage and services as HB 340 would do."
"We urge all of our state officials to step up now to protect PeachCare for our children," Rev. Tami S. Groves, executive director of Interfaith Children's Movement of Metropolitan Atlanta says. "We love and value children, and we believe most of our legislators would like to keep them from missing out on healthcare. It is our moral obligation to do everything in our power to care for every child in Georgia, and that means putting our values into action."
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