Governor Sonny Perdue today delivered testimony concerning the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the Subcommittee on Health of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.
“Georgia has done well in implementing SCHIP,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “We’ve done too well – in fact, we’ve been penalized for it. We’ve enrolled so many kids in SCHIP that our percentage of uninsured children has dropped dramatically. And because of a flawed funding model that partially bases states’ allotments on the number of uninsured children, Georgia, along with our neighbors like Mississippi and North Carolina, are facing growing shortfalls.”
In his testimony, Governor Perdue again called on Congress to uphold its duty to appropriately fund the program and revise SCHIP’s funding formula to provide for a sustainable and stable future for this important program. As of January 2008, Georgia’s SCHIP program, PeachCare for Kids, provided health coverage to 234,720 children.
"If SCHIP were a snail darter or a purple bank climbing mussel, we would be suing the federal government under the Endangered Species Act," added Governor Perdue.
Governor Perdue also asked Congress to keep the focus of the program on children. "The key principle of SCHIP is that children should always be top priority. Our resources must focus first on children," said Governor Perdue. "This is not the case in every state right now. Some states have expanded their programs to include health insurance for other groups, even childless adults. But the goal of this program all along was to provide an answer to an insurance need for our most vulnerable population: low income children."
To read the Governor's complete testimony, click here.
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