1. National: DC-Area Youths March to Support Health Insurance for All Children More than 500 local youth from the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools program marched from Union Station to the U.S. Capitol building where they were joined by CDF President Marian Wright Edelman and Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), sponsor of the All Healthy Children Act, for a rally in support of health insurance for all children. Part of a "National Day of Social Action," the youths also visited their Members of Congress to advocate for comprehensive health insurance for all children in America. Almost 9,000 children and teens from CDF Freedom Schools sites nationwide held similar events across the country. "Every 41 seconds in America, a baby is born without health insurance," said CDF President, Marian Wright Edelman. "In our rich nation where there are 9.4 million uninsured children, we cannot afford to wait any longer to ensure that all children have access to health insurance." Since the start of the 110th Congress in January 2007, more than one million children have been born without health insurance. CDF's Healthy Child Campaign is committed to ensuring every child access to affordable, seamless, comprehensive health coverage and services. CDF is calling on Congress to pass the All Healthy Children Act which would ensure that all children and pregnant women in America have access to comprehensive health insurance. [Ed Shelleby, 07/11/08] 2. Colorado: Children's Health Insurance Expanded Governor Bill Ritter signed bills expanding health insurance for children and reducing barriers for families eligible for health insurance programs. Cheering the move were members of the 2010 All Kids Covered Initiative, including representatives from nearly 50 organizations that joined forces to pass both measures. Expansion of health insurance for uninsured children is through the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program. Specifically, the measure increases eligibility from 205 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to 225 percent, which is about $48,000 annually for a family of four. In addition, CHP+ mental health benefits package will now be equal to Medicaid mental health benefits for children. Another bill reduces barriers to enrollment in Medicaid and CHP+ by eliminating requirements for families to submit pay stubs, instead allowing the state to verify a family's income using data that is already available. Further, it allows children to be easily reenrolled at the end of eligibility and avoid interruption in coverage. Despite recent strides, nearly 1 in 5 Colorado children still lack quality, affordable health care. Organizations leading the 2010 All Kids Covered Initiative include Colorado Children's Campaign, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, Colorado Covering Kids and Families, and Metro Organizations for People. [Ellen Brilliant, Denver Newspaper Agency, 06/03/08] 3. New Jersey: Impact of CHIP Rule Change With an economy that continues to weaken and more families unsure of how to pay their mortgage and afford rising gas prices to get to work, the Bush administration has decided that many of their children should no longer be eligible for affordable health coverage. A new report by New Jersey Policy Perspective explains how new rules issued by the administration would have a more severe impact on New Jersey than had been expected, both in terms of the number of children who would lose health insurance and the loss of federal funding. "A Step Backward: How Federal Rules Would Deny Health Insurance to New Jersey Children," by NJPP Senior Policy Analyst Raymond J. Castro, offers the most detailed analysis to date of how changes in the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), called FamilyCare in New Jersey, would affect the state. According to the report, over five years, 35,000 fewer New Jersey children would have health coverage and the state would lose $215 million because of new rules that sharply limit states' abilities to insure kids whose family income is above the limit set by the Bush administration. The new federal policy is shortsighted and downright stingy. Instead of investing in our kids' future, it would reduce their chances for a healthful life. The report presents data for the first time broken down by congressional district, showing that the impact on New Jersey is widespread and by no means confined to the lowest-income areas. Since 1998, millions of working families across the country have received healthcare assistance through CHIP. The Bush administration's new rules would very likely reduce the number of eligible children through a directive issued by the federal government's Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Among other provisions, the CMS directive prohibits states from covering children in families where income exceeds 2.5 times the federal poverty level unless states can meet certain requirements that are very unlikely to be satisfied. Because of the state's high cost of living, New Jersey currently allows kids to be in FamilyCare if their family income is up to 3.5 times the federal poverty level, or about $61,000 for a family of three. The current CHIP law has been extended until March 2009, the deadline for enacting another extension or reauthorization bill. However, the CMS directive will take effect in August 2008 if Congress cannot get the president to sign a bill that at least places a one-year moratorium on the directive or if the states can get the directive overturned in the courts, as New Jersey is trying to do. New Jersey's current policy to make health coverage available to all uninsured children would likely result in the state enrolling 64,000 more children in FamilyCare within the next five years. But under the CMS directive lowering income eligibility, that number would be only 29,000. The fiscal impact on the state is equally onerous. New Jersey could lose more than $200 million in federal funds at a time when the state is trying to address a significant structural budget deficit. Every congressional district is at risk of losing millions of federal funds as well as state matching funds. Wealthier districts will most likely be very hard hit because they include a higher proportion of moderate-income children who will be targeted by the new rules and whose families are unlikely to have affordable employer-provided health care or to have the money to pay for coverage on their own. [Jon Shure, The Times of Trenton, 06/04/08]