Friday, August 11, 2006
Editorial: Red tape could choke a budding success story
Evidence suggests public programs are extending health care coverage to once uninsured children
From the RoundTable blog
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A report released this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests public programs designed to provide health insurance coverage for children are working.
The programs, like Virginia's Family Access to Medical Insurance Security, or FAMIS, provide a safety net for children whose parents cannot afford private health insurance or have no access to coverage.
The foundation's report shows that the percentage of uninsured children in America has decreased 20 percent since 1997, when Congress approved children's health insurance programs. In Virginia, the percentage of uninsured kids dropped by more than 3 percent from 1997 to 2004.
Public programs sometimes accomplish great things. That's the good news.
Here's the bad news. A federal deficit reduction act that took effect July 1 seems destined to erect bureaucratic hurdles in the paths of eligible children's parents.
Applicants must now provide proof of U.S. citizenship and proof of identity.
Social services workers say these requirements could discourage eligible parents from enrolling their children. The reasons range from confusion about what's required to lacking the proper documents.
Many working parents and foster parents don't have the time or resources to track down birth certificates. And red tape and fear of deportation scare off illegal immigrants even though their children might be eligible.
Overworked social services employees say the documentation mandates are unnecessary because they can already spot red flags in applications from illegal aliens.
Without additional resources, backlogs build as the workers plow through document verification, required by yet another unfunded federal mandate.
Congress should either rethink the proof provisions or offer resources to protect a fledgling, progressive program from being bound up in red tape.
