1. Mississippi: Talks Address CHIP Exodus Healthcare advocates and representatives met to discuss shrinking enrollment of children in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. More than 65,000 Mississippi children have lost health insurance since stricter Medicaid eligibility requirements began in 2005, according to the Lewin Group, a national healthcare and human services consulting firm. Some parents say they cannot take off work for the annual face-to-face meetings to recertify their children for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. Both programs are jointly funded by federal and state dollars and pay for the medical care of more than 340,000 children. "Kids are back on, back off," said Dr. Tami Brooks, a Jackson pediatrician. "It's not easy. It's not user friendly." Parents tell her they do not receive the three letters required to warn them of visits. They learn of lost coverage when they show up at the doctor's office and cannot pay. "The bottom line is we need to see why the system's not working," she said. Gov. Haley Barbour pushed face-to-face meetings to qualify each year for state-funded medical coverage to protect against fraud. Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, said monitoring possible fraud is a duty the state owes taxpayers. Asking parents to make one face-to-face meeting annually is not a burden, he said. The application process to obtain health insurance for children must be easier, Brooks said. "If parents work and can't afford it or if they don't work, don't punish the children," she said. "Health care for children should be a right not a privilege." According to the study's author, it is more difficult to obtain health insurance through Medicaid in Mississippi than in other states. Mississippi is the only state requiring a face-to-face meeting. "Other states are going in exactly the opposite direction," Haught said, "Some states allow residents to verify their earnings over the phone or Internet." Medicaid spokesman Francis Rullan said the agency will review options outlined in the study. The agency wants to move from a "pay-for-services mentality" to a more "proactive health care mentality," he said. "How many reports do we have to have to recognize the uninsured is a major problem in Mississippi?" asked House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Steve Holland. [Laura Hipp, The Calrion-Ledger, 04/25/07] 2. National: Government's Plan for Health Care Reform Doesn't Ease Pain of Mothers If the nine million children without health insurance in this country held hands, they would easily stretch from coast to coast. Brenda Tinch and her husband must find money every month for their children's asthma medication, even if it means ignoring bills or borrowing from their family or their church. "Without being able to provide for my kids, it's a helpless feeling," Tinch said. That's how Akia Anderson feels too. Her daughter has a bone disease and needs an orthopedist, which she cannot afford. "That's my baby, and I can't do what I need to do for her," Anderson said. "I can't do what I need to do for her. So I feel helpless and hopeless." Both families work. But they make too much for Medicaid and too little to afford private insurance. "If you judged a country by how it treats its most vulnerable people, we're certainly failing when you leave nine million children behind," said Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack. Children's Defense Fund Founder and President Marian Wright agreed. "It's a national disgrace. It also not only costs lives of children and stress for families but it also costs taxpayers money," Wright said. Here's how it costs taxpayer money: When Carrol Martin's son, Simon, had an infected toe, she could not afford to take him to the doctor. She cut a hole in his shoe and hoped it would get better. But it got worse. "Sometimes I would almost cry, really," Simon said. After five months fighting red tape, she got public health insurance for her son, but by then his foot required expensive surgery, a bill taxpayers swallowed. "I'm not looking for a handout. I just need assistance," Carrol said. "Health care. That's all." When uninsured children do get medical care, that care is often inferior. One study says an uninsured child is twice as likely to die when hospitalized. Even when a child is covered by government health insurance, he or she call fall through the cracks, like Deamonte Driver. His mother could not find a single dentist who would accept Medicaid. An abscessed tooth became a brain infection. Emergency treatment cost a quarter of a million dollars, but it was too late. "And my son had to die--12 years old--because of a tooth," Deamonte's mother Alyce Driver said. "I just think that we need to just look at the reality of people's lives and worker's lives and then say 'how do we fix this?' Because it is not working," Wright Edelman said. Mike Leavitt is the secretary of Health and Human Services. When CNN asked him to explain the prevalence of uninsured kids in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Leavitt said he wanted to change that. "They need health insurance. Every person in this country needs to have access to a basic health insurance policy at an affordable price," Leavitt said. So what is being done about it? "Well there is a lot of talk about it, but thus far we have not achieved it. I think a moment is coming where we may see significant progress," he said. If and when that moment comes, it will be too late for Devante Johnson. He lost his health insurance while in the middle of treatments for kidney cancer. "He was my little angel from God. He was only sent for a season, but the season he was here he did well, and I'm just honored to be his mother," Devante's mother Tamika Scott said. [49 ABC News Kansas, 06/04/07] 3. New Hampshire: Healthy Kids A Vital Program It's so easy to take health insurance for granted, but until you're unemployed or self-employed, you really don't realize how scary it is to be without health insurance for your children. These days, fewer and fewer companies are offering insurance to their workers. That trend is leaving many families without insurance or with extremely high premiums. My husband is self-employed, and we go without insurance because we can't afford it. This is not an option for my children. New Hampshire Healthy Kids has been a godsend for my family. My children both have asthma, and having insurance for them is a priority. They offer insurance on a sliding scale, and even if you have a higher income, you are still eligible at a very affordable rate. We have had Healthy Kids insurance for over two years and hope to continue for as long as we are able. In the coming weeks, Congress will decide whether to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It is crucial for all of us hardworking New Hampshire families to ensure this passes so we can continue to have Healthy Kids insurance for our children. [Kelly Damon, Concord Monitor, 05/27/07]