Is it possible that Republicans' kids never get sick? And what do 1,000 poor ones look like in Lubbock's ER?
We're about to find out, because 1300 Lubbock County and 1150 more local children who live at or slightly above the poverty line are being cut off their health insurance next month.
Writes John Reynolds in the Lubbock Avalanche:
The clock continues to tick for up to 1,368 Lubbock County children who will
be kicked out of the state Children's Health Insurance Program unless their families pay overdue premiums by Aug. 15. The number of children at risk of losing their benefits accounts for 44 percent of Lubbock County children enrolled in the CHIP program, according to figures supplied by the Lubbock-based West Texas CHIP Coalition.
In the 14 surrounding counties, 1,151 more children stand to lose their CHIP eligibility for overdue premium payments. Since September, the number of children enrolled in CHIP has de clined 29 percent, from 507,259 to 361,464 in July. In Lubbock County, the numbers show an even greater decline, according to figures provided by Suarez. The number of CHIP children in the county dropped 34 percent, from 4,718 to 3,127.
In related news, a HHS audit exposes that an insurance company made some money off CHIP for doing virtually nothing...oh, say $20 million or so.
Polly Ross Hughes of the Houston Chronicle reports:
The state failed in its responsibilities to the public by overpaying a contractor $20 million to manage the Children's Health Insurance Program, according to a highly critical state auditor's report released Thursday.
The 72-page report comes as nearly 150,000 children have lost CHIP coverage to budget cuts and accuses the state of "serious deficiencies" in its contracts and oversight of Clarendon National Insurance Co.
In the report, then-state Auditor Lawrence Alwin said the Health and Human Services Commission's lack of oversight and lax standards for the CHIP contractor for rural Texas led to "excessive or unnecessary" payments. The auditor's report specifically criticizes Clarendon's management pay and billing practices under the health commission contract.
Between May 2000 and April 2003, for instance, Clarendon's program manager received $5.5 million in fees that did not directly benefit CHIP, the report said. "Clarendon's not going to comment at this time, pending a review of the report," said Tom Faust of Stanton Crenshaw, a public relations firm
representing Clarendon.
OK, OK, OK...so Clarendon Insurance Company gets the gold mine and 2500 Panhandle kids get the shaft. Just imagine how many got it in Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Houston or the Valley. Sure, it's such a political puppy-kicking that we'll get an investigation -- but the damage is done.
That money was taken from CHIP, and now, because (surprise!) families at the poverty level can't keep up with spiraling healthcare costs, their kids will go without. Some will die.
Put that in your actuarial tables.
|