Cross-posted from Texas Kaos, Blue Texas, and Diatribune
The New York Times is reporting in its editions a Bush White House attempt to "make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families."
This is the same program that Sen. John Cornyn has fought tooth and nail both as Texas Attorney General and now in the U.S. Seante.
More below.
The Children's Health Insurance Program is that rarest of government creations -- a joint federal-state effort that actually works to reduce the number of uninsured children in our country. No wonder Congressional leaders are trying to expand it -- and the White House is trying to dismantle it.
The question for us is this: will our Congressman join the bi-partisan effort to strengthen CHIP? Or will he stick with the short-sighted ideological opposition of the Bush Administration and leave millions of children without health insurance?
As Kuff reported earlier today, Carole Strayhorn's office recently released an audit of Accenture, the company the newly elected GOP-majority in 2003 tasked to manage enrollments for the Children's Health Insurance Program. The way the contract is set up, Accenture gets to profit from making mistakes on applications. From the comptroller's report:
Accenture is paid when applications are completed and ready for the state’s final determination. Accenture also is paid, however, when applications “time out” because clients have not submitted sufficient information for processing. These applications are sent to the state for denial, and Accenture is paid the same rate as for completed applications. This payment structure does not provide Accenture with any incentive to seek necessary information from clients before their applications time out.
"They're being paid for their mistakes, and our children are the ones footing the bill," Rep. Coleman said. "It's disgusting. It's outrageous. It's unacceptable."
Accenture's mistakes do verge on downright criminal, but it's important to note, as Kuff points out, Accenture isn't the cause of CHIP enrollment bungling since 2003; it's the effect of policies the governor and legislature passed. And the first step towards fixing the screw-ups of 2003 is to make sure we have a legislature and governor next year for whom children's health insurance is a priority.
It's important everyone understands the facts: Governor Perry and Republicans made enrolling children in CHIP more difficult, the HHSC reported that the main reason children are dropping off the CHIP rolls is because of the difficulty of the enrollment process, and Accenture profits from every re-submittal of CHIP applications.
CHIP is a major issue this election cycle. In North Texas, this television ad from the SEIU puts a face on the CHIP crisis:
A Spanish-language version of the video can be viewed below.
