The Texas Observer

It’s CHIP day at the Capitol — a high point in the four-year effort to undo the 2003 cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Rep. Garnet Coleman and the Children’s Defense Fund have brought in families from all over Texas who have had trouble keeping their kids on the program to testify before the House Human Services Committee, which is considering an all-star lineup of bills that would restore CHIP. The families tell harrowing tales of getting kicked out of the program because of the bureaucratic barriers the Legislature instituted in 2003, or because of mistakes by the privatized enrollment system handed over to Accenture:

Karen Rohrer is a single mother who moved back to Texas in February 2006 with her 14-year-old daughter, Tasha, who has a painful bone disorder, and her 15-year-old son, who’s manic-depressive. She applied for CHIP coverage in late February and heard nothing for months. When she reached workers on the phone at call centers, they told her the application was still being processed. So for months, Karen couldn’t take Tasha to the doctor — instead taking her to the emergency room when the pain in her bones became too much to stand. She also had to ration anti-depressent medication for her son that Karen says costs her more $300 a month. When she rationed her son’s meds, Karen began staying home from work to watch him. “We were on a suicide watch,” she says. In June, Karen was told that her kids had in fact been denied coverage three months before due to a paperwork error. She applied again–and was told she would have to wait 90 days for coverage to begin. Her family finally got CHIP coverage in September. One month later, the state sent her a letter saying her six-month renewal was coming due in January and she’d have to go through the application gauntlet all over again.

Other families had tales of equal bureaucratic woe. Perhaps most shocking: Tina Garcia of Beaumont said her daughter Gabriela, 10, who has severe allergy problems, lost CHIP coverage because she had too much cash in her savings account — violating the program’s asset test. Why did she have to much cash? It was an insurance payment after Hurricane Rita destroyed her home. Later, after she got benefits restored, Tina took Gabriela to the dentist for a filling. Tina was distressed to learn that although state lawmakers restored CHIP’s dental coverage, anesthesa would not be covered. She would have to pay for it herself or make her daughter get the procedure without a pain killer. Tina took her gas and electric bill money to pay the $180 for the anesthesia. The utilities went unpaid.

There may finally be some political momentum for restoring CHIP this session. The families visiting the Capitol today made clear how great the need remains.

by Dave Mann

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 3:37 pm and is filed under 80th Texas Lege. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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