York Dispatch

January 14, 2015

By George Hoover,

When Pennsylvania created one of the nation’s first Children’s Health Insurance Programs in 1992, we did it because we knew it would be good for kids and their families. As an added bonus, our CHIP initiative — approved with broad, bipartisan consensus seldom seen these days — turned out to be a model for programs in other states as well as the federal CHIP, making us a national leader in providing health care coverage for kids.

These days, however, Pennsylvania has slipped from the front of the pack toward the mediocre middle when it comes to children’s health care, primarily because we have failed to pursue an opportunity to insure more children by insuring more parents through the expansion of Medicaid. Every one of our neighboring states — some led by Democrats, others by Republicans -— has pursued Medicaid expansion. The election of Tom Wolf as governor positions Pennsylvania to play catch up to our neighbors and help cover more of our kids.

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Of the 274,000 uninsured parents in Pennsylvania, nearly half, or about 131,000, would qualify for coverage under Medicaid expansion, according to the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. This means expanding Medicaid to low-income adults would be the quickest and simplest way to cover more uninsured adults, which would help take a big bite from the ranks of uninsured children. Medicaid expansion also could better benefit the health of parents, so they could better manage their family and work responsibilities.

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