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Child Health Plus hits roadblock
Federal changes prevent expansion to cover another 60,000 kids  
  
By CATHLEEN CROWLEY, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, August 28, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer threatened on Monday to go to court to challenge new federal rules that are blocking New York's efforts to provide health insurance to uninsured children.
Also, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, who met with Spitzer and state Health Commissioner Richard Daines on Monday, said he plans to introduce legislation in Congress that would nullify the new rules.

  
In April, New York state sought federal approval to expand the income eligibility for its Child Health Plus program from the current maximum of 250 percent of the federal poverty level, about $43,000 for a family of three, to 400 percent, about $68,000.

The change would extend eligibility to an additional 60,000 uninsured children and make New York's income threshold the highest in the nation.

But the new federal rules, announced Aug. 17 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, limit the expansion of the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by requiring that 95 percent of all eligible children be enrolled before expanding it. The new rules also mandate that children be uninsured for a full year before enrolling in the public insurance program.

"We are calling on President Bush to abolish these troublesome roadblocks to insuring our nation's children," Spitzer said in a news release. "The President should invest in the health of America's children and allow states like New York, and nearly 20 others, to implement programs that will help ensure that more and more children receive the healthy beginning they deserve."

The purpose of the rules, according to federal officials, is to prevent families and employers from leaving private insurance plans in exchange for public insurance.

The rules essentially kill Spitzer's plan to expand children's health insurance and expansions or pending plans in 17 other states and the District of Columbia. New York's participation rate is 88 percent and state leaders say 95 percent participation is unrealistic.

In a news release, Spitzer said the state may fight the new federal administrative rules in court on the grounds that they contradict the provisions of the federal SCHIP law and were imposed without notice or the required comment period.

Legislators in Congress are looking at ways to reverse the rules, possibly by adding new language to the SCHIP reauthorization bill currently in conference.

"Politically speaking, I don't see how anyone can support the president putting a cap on how many children can receive insurance," Rangel said.

Bush has proposed increasing the SCHIP budget by $4.8 billion over the next five years, but believes it should focus on families below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

New York has 400,000 uninsured children but most are already eligible for public health insurance under the current rules. According to Spitzer's announcement, the state is aggressively reaching out to those children and trying to enroll them.

Crowley can be reached at 454-5348 or by e-mail at ccrowley@timesunion.com.

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But the new federal rules, announced Aug. 17 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, limit the expansion of the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by requiring that 95 percent of all eligible children be enrolled before expanding it. The new rules also mandate that children be uninsured for a full year before enrolling in the public insurance program.

"We are calling on President Bush to abolish these troublesome roadblocks to insuring our nation's children

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It makes the people choose themselves....if they want it they will go and get it......but, as shepherds they push with fear......

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‘Right to choose’ about more than abortion

   Regarding Paul Drisgula’s Aug. 25 op-ed piece on the new hospital system in Schenectady, I am constantly baffl ed why abortion is the central issue in any discussion on women’s health.
   Mr. Drisgula says “Women require access to a full range of reproductive health services, including annual exams, cancer screening, birth control, prenatal care, abortion care, and menopause services, throughout their lives.” Yet the piece focuses on abortion, giving the impression that the rest of these services are well in hand.
   He also leaves out birth services in this list. Is he aware of the lack of option available to women in this region who want to birth outside of a hospital, an option which research consistently shows to be safe? With no physicians in the region willing to back them up, home birth midwives have been driven underground. The nearest free-standing birth center is in the Bronx, nearly three hours away. Typical prenatal care and hospital protocol for birth involves a battery of tests and procedures that are not presented as optional, and for which a discussion of risks and benefits is limited at best. Mr. Drisgula emphasizes a woman’s right to choose an abortion and her practitioner. What about her right to choose other options regarding her care and the care of her child?
   In addition, I am insulted that women are viewed as so delicate that we need an entire branch of medicine — and even a hospital — devoted just to us. What about this says equality?
   BRONWYN FACKRELL
   Scotia  

Quoted from bumblethru

Wow Bronwyn Fackrell - you said a mouthful here. And I couldn't agree more. If Bellevue was and still is so great, why are more and more women preferring St. Peters and Saratoga hosipital? They appear to be the hospitals of choice for women's care. So the demand seems to be being met.

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Miss. ranked fattest state in nation

August 28, 2007 02:00:42 AM PST

Experts say Mississippians need to skip the gravy, say no to the fried pickles and start taking brisk walks to fight an epidemic of obesity.

According to a new study, this Deep South state is the fattest in the nation. The Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention, says Mississippi is the first state where more than 30 percent of adults are considered obese.

Aside from making Mississippi the butt of late-night talk show jokes, the obesity epidemic has serious implications for public policy.

If current trends hold, the state could face enormous increases in the already significant costs of treating diabetes, heart disease and other ailments caused by the extra poundage.

"We've got a long way to go. We love fried chicken and fried anything and all the grease and fatback we can get in Mississippi," said Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland, chairman of the Public Health Committee.

Poverty and obesity often go hand in hand, doctors say, because poor families stretch their budgets by buying cheaper, processed foods that have higher fat content and lower nutritional value.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — a self-described "recovering foodaholic" who lost 110 pounds several years ago — explained during a Southern Governors' Association meeting in Biloxi last weekend that there are historical reasons poor people often fry their foods: It's an inexpensive way to increase the calories and feed a family.

Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, and the Delta is the poorest region of Mississippi.

Dr. Marshall Bouldin, director of the diabetes and metabolism center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the Southern governors that if the Delta counties were excluded, "Mississippi would wind up being about 30th in diabetes problems in the United States."

Mississippi's public schools already are taking steps to prevent obesity.

A new state law enacted this year requires schools to provide at least 150 minutes of physical activity instruction and 45 minutes of health education instruction each week for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Until now, gym class had been optional.

The state Department of Education also is phasing in restrictions on soft drinks and snacks.

All public schools are currently banned from selling full-calorie soft drinks to students. Next academic year, elementary and middle schools will allow only water, juice and milk, while high schools will allow only water, juice, sports drinks and diet soft drinks.

The state Department of Education publishes lists of snacks that are approved or banned for sale in school vending machines. Last school year, at least 50 percent of the vending offerings had to be from the approved list. That jumped to 75 percent this year and will reach 100 percent next year.

Among the approved snacks are yogurt, sliced fruit and granola bars, while fried pork rinds and marshmallow treats are banned. One middle school favorite — Flamin' Hot Cheetos — are on the approved list if they're baked but banned if they're not.

State Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds said he hopes students will take home the healthful habits they learn at school.

"We only have students 180 days out of the year for seven hours in a school day. The important thing is that we model what good behavior looks like," Bounds said Monday after finishing a lunch of baked chicken.

Bounds ate at a Jackson buffet that's popular with state legislators. On Monday, the buffet included traditional, stick-to-your-ribs Southern fare: fried chicken, grits, fried okra, turnip greens.

Dr. William Rowley, who worked 30 years as a vascular surgeon and now works at the Institute for Alternative Futures, said if current trends continue, more than 50 percent of adult Mississippians will be obese in 2015.

Holland, who helps set the state Medicaid budget, said he worries about the taxpayers' cost of treating obesity.

"If we don't change our ways," he said, "we're going to be in the funeral parlors ... because we're going to be all fat and dead."

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implement programs that will help ensure that more and more children receive the healthy beginning they deserve."

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Public funding should ensure abortions at Ellis  
First published: Wednesday, August 29, 2007

An Aug. 17 Times Union article reported on rumors that Ellis Hospital in Schenectady is considering banning abortions at all hospitals after the consolidation with St. Clare's and Bellevue. Hopefully this rumor will go unfounded, as if it is true, it would be an outrage.
  
Like it or not, abortion is legal as determined by the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade. While we applaud Planned Parenthood for all its good work and trust in its capabilities in providing this procedure, residents of Schenectady County and everyone else are entitled to having this procedure performed in a hospital, if so medically needed.

We hope that Ellis, in the broader public interest, will recognize its responsibility and continue to provide this valuable service and not kowtow to those religious institutions that are trying to undermine the basic separation of church and state. Since the hospital receives public money in the form of grants and Medicare/Medicaid payments, the public should demand this action.

MARTIN WAKESBERG ELLEN BRESSLER-WAKESBERG Burnt Hills

Quoted from bumblethru

It should not be up to the government to provide children 'with the healthy beginning they deserve'! That should be up to the parents. There is just way way way toooooo  much government control. Take all of this taxpayer money and abolish these government programs and invest in incentives for businesses to grow and expand so they can afford to give their employees medical benefits. Funny, but the public sector workers get the benni's, now don't they?

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Public funding should ensure abortions at Ellis