Byline: Carla K. Johnson
Dec. 22--An estimated 62,000 Washington children lost publicly funded health insurance during the past two years, mostly because of administrative hurdles added by the Legislature.
The number includes an estimated 4,000 children in Spokane County and hundreds more in counties throughout Eastern Washington.
The estimates are included in a report released Tuesday by a nonprofit advocacy group, the Children's Alliance.
The group called on Gov. Gary Locke to take immediate action. The alliance wants Locke to use an executive order to restore provisions that make it easier for children to keep their health insurance for up to a year, even if their parents get a raise or overtime pay that makes them ineligible for coverage.
The '12-month review cycle' and 'continuous eligibility' rules for children ended in the spring of 2003 because of belt-tightening by the Legislature.
'We saw the impact almost immediately in confusion over what income has to be reported and when,' said Ralph DeCristoforo, coordinator of Spokane's Health for All project. 'The children are technically on a month-to-month program now.'
Until the 2003 changes, Washington state had been in the forefront of providing coverage to children from poor and working-class families, the Children's Alliance report said.
'When times got tough with the fiscal crisis in this state, the Legislature and the governor introduced these changes,' said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Seattle-based Children's Alliance. 'The changes they made have gone too far. We're asking Gov. Locke to clean the system up before he leaves office.'
A spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program, said the alliance's estimates sounded high. DSHS is studying the issue and will make its own report to the Legislature, agency spokesman Jim Stevenson said.
Locke's budget proposal includes $17 million to restore the 12-month review and continuous eligibility for the two-year state budget cycle. But with the outcome of the election to replace him still undecided, it's unclear how much effect Locke's proposal will have during the upcoming legislative session.
A spokeswoman for Locke's office said the governor was studying the group's request for an executive order.
Gould said immediate action from Locke is needed.
'The biennium doesn't start until July 1, 2005,' Gould said. 'And there's a Legislature and a new governor who also are going to write a budget.'
As of October, almost 537,000 Washington children were insured by Medicaid and SCHIP. That's more than half of the total Medicaid enrollment of 971,200.
The Children's Alliance report also found that:
--More than $1 million has been spent on the new administrative requirements.
--The changes have disproportionately affected minority children and children from rural communities.
--The changes have caused low-income families to wait until a child gets sick to sign up for coverage. The Children's Alliance said that could mean more expensive emergency room visits and hospital stays.
--The children losing coverage since April 2003 include 197 in Lincoln County, 591 in Okanogan County, 136 in Pend Oreille County, 637 in Stevens County, 600 in Walla Walla County and 220 in Whitman County.
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