Two top Democrats unveil child-health proposal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two leading congressional Democrats on Wednesday unveiled legislation intended to ensure that the 9 million U.S. children who currently have no health insurance can get it through existing government programs.

Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic presidential hopeful, and Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, sponsored the bill, introduced in both chambers of Congress.

It is the most recent of a number of proposals to bring health insurance to at least some of the 47 million people lacking it in a country of 300 million that is the richest in the world. About one child out of eight is uninsured.

The proposal's cost was being analyzed by the
Congressional Budget Office, Dingell said at a news conference with Clinton. He did not say how the bill would be paid for.

During the first term of her husband
Bill Clinton's presidency, Sen. Clinton led a failed universal health-coverage initiative. This bill is more modest, but she said it would address an acute need -- getting all children insured.

It would give the 50 U.S. states incentives to expand their existing programs for children's health insurance and would help states identify the estimated 6 million children eligible for public programs but not currently enrolled.

"It is clear to me that this is the kind of congressional action that is a step toward universal coverage for everyone," Clinton said in a Senate hearing room as dozens of children from local schools watched.

"Taking care of our children first is not only the right thing and the smart thing to do, but is really a moral obligation for all of us," Clinton added.

The bill would give states federal funds to broaden health coverage, for children whose families earn incomes up to four higher than the defined poverty level, through the State Children's Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP.

States would have to speed enrollment of qualified children by getting rid of waiting lists and enrollment caps.

Clinton said she did not want the bill to encourage employers currently offering health insurance to employees' children to drop this coverage. It has new incentives to bolster employer-provided coverage for children, she said.

SCHIP is due for reauthorization this year. Enacted in 1997, it gives states money to provide insurance for underprivileged children. States set eligibility rules, benefit packages and payment levels.

A study released separately by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that fewer lower-income parents were being offered health insurance by employers. About 47 percent of parents in families earning less than $40,000 annually are offered insurance at work, down 9 percent since 1997, it showed.