Hatch Spars with White House Over Children's Health Program

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is leading an effort to reauthorize - and significantly boost funding for - a federal health insurance program that covers millions of low-income children. He's proposing a 35-billion dollar increase, and the White House is already threatening a veto. Hatch is irked:

"It's premature and short-sighted of staffers down at the White House to start rattling sabres like this," says Hatch. "And the most distressing part of that decision is it was made without the details of what we've come up with. In fact our legislative language is not even finalized as of this date."

Ten years ago, Hatch sponsored the measure that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program with a baseline budget of 25-billion dollars. On September 30th of this year, the program will expire unless Hatch can convince Congress and the President to reauthorize it with new funding. President Bush has recommended only five-billion additional dollars for S-CHIP over the next five years. Given rising health care costs, Hatch says that amount won't even cover the children already enrolled in the program:

"It's gonna take that extra money that's really quite signficant," says Hatch. "Naturally that causes a lot of angst in the hearst of anybody that wants to keep these costs under control. But then again, we know that if we don't help these kids to be healthy, we're going to wind up with even bigger, more costly problems as they grow and age."

Hatch estimates the additional 35-billion dollars he's requesting for S-CHIP will be enough to cover several million more children. There are an estimated nine million kids without health insurance in the U.S. and 70-thousand in the state of Utah. Hatch believes veto threats from the White House are an attempt to scare other Republicans away from the bill.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW