Larger text
Smaller textHealth insurance program for Pennsylvania children lauded
Chris Ramirez is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-380-5682 or via e-mail.
Ten years ago, affordable health care for Mary Jo Sprague's two children seemed out of reach.
Recently divorced, the O'Hara woman and her family were getting by on her disability and child-support checks each month.
"I was panicked," said Sprague, 55.
A television commercial convinced her to enroll her son and daughter in the state's Children's Health Insurance Program.
"What a blessing," she said about the program, which marked its 18th year in Pennsylvania on Thursday.
CHIP provides free or low-cost health insurance to uninsured children up to age 19 who otherwise are not eligible for medical assistance. Routine doctors' visits, specialized medical procedures and access to generic and brand-named medicine are covered for parents who meet the income requirements.
The roughly 37,700 children from Southwestern Pennsylvania who receive CHIP's help represent about one-fifth the state total.
"CHIP is definitely the silver lining in today's volatile health care environment," Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario said during a news conference with Gov. Ed Rendell in Harrisburg.
Created under legislation signed in 1992 by Gov. Robert P. Casey, Pennsylvania's CHIP program ultimately served as a model for the federal CHIP program President Bill Clinton enacted in 1997. Rendell expanded the program in 2006 to any uninsured child and teen not eligible for medical assistance.
State insurance officials estimate more than 800,000 Pennsylvania children have received coverage since CHIP's inception.
Coverage is purchased using a combination of state and federal money from private insurers. Parents pay a premium — some as low as $5 a month — based on income.
Sprague's children remain enrolled in the program. Two years after she enrolled her children, doctors diagnosed her daughter, Katie, with epilepsy.
"If we didn't have this, I would have worked harder and probably would not have been as successful in getting all of what she needed," Sprague said.
More than 1 million Pennsylvanians do not have health insurance, including 140,000 children, according to the state Department of Insurance. Rendell proposed a $29 billion budget that would provide health coverage for 10,300 more children in the next fiscal year.
"The preventative care that comes with programs like CHIP are creating a savings for everybody," said Dr. Diego Chaves-Gnecco, program director and founder of Salud Para Ninos, a health clinic for Hispanic children in Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville.
The sputtering economy means many families will remain uninsured, said Thistle Elias, coordinator of Bridging the Gaps Pittsburgh. The program, operated through the University of Pittsburgh, runs a summer internship with health and social service professionals, linking them to disadvantaged families.
"We have a lot of families who, if it weren't for CHIP, wouldn't have health care at all," Elias said.
More Pennsylvania headlines
- Pa. to receive $266M as part of national mortgage settlement
- Pa. GOP voters quit Gingrich for Santorum
- Shale gas rules bill heads to governor
- State can still use '01 districts, judge says
- Breeders object to raiding of Pa. fund
- PennDOT's managers can earn overtime
- Turzai pitches bill to limit state spending on capital projects
- Sandusky seeks Centre County jury
