By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
October 19, 2007

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., has drawn political fire in recent weeks for voting against a huge funding expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

He also disagreed with adults being enrolled in the program that was intended to serve lower-income children. In addition, Walden opposed a change in eligibility standards that would have qualified households earning up to $83,000 per year.

Next week, he anticipates being targeted in a TV advertising campaign launched by MoveOn.org. The political action group has stated plans to publicly accuse Republican leaders who did not support House Resolution 976 of “standing with Pres. George W. Bush against our children.”

In September, MoveOn.org itself drew condemnation from both houses of Congress for unveiling the “General Betray Us” ads against Gen. David Petraeus, commander of multi-national troops in Iraq.

Despite pressure from the Democrat-controlled Congress, Walden remains firm in his belief that the proposed SCHIP expansion was not affordable. He said 22 million new smokers would have been needed over the next 10 years to pay the program’s bills.

Under HR 976, the federal cigarette tax was slated to increase by 61 cents per pack on behalf of SCHIP, generating $35 billion more than current spending over the next five years.

But Walden said after the five-year mark that funding, most of which is allocated up front, dropped off by 80 percent. He said the government would then have faced an economic crisis since the enrollment of children would have increased from 6.6 million to 10 million.

Congress created SCHIP back in 1997 with the intention of helping families that were unable to afford health care for their children but earned too much money to qualify for Medicaid. About $40 billion has been spent on the program in the ensuing decade. SCHIP will expire this fall unless Congress reauthorizes it.

“The proposed reauthorization of SCHIP was just not financially sustainable after year five,” said Walden, who co-chairs the Rural Health Coalition with 172 bipartisan members.

“I’ve spent a lot of years working on ways to expand affordable health care, especially in rural areas of the state, and I could support a reasonable expansion of the program.”

Bush vetoed HR 976 this week, in part, because it allowed children from middle-income families to sign up for SCHIP. Walden said the proposal would have resulted in many children being switched from private insurance coverage onto SCHIP at taxpayer expense. In addition, he said applicants under HR 976 were required to provide only a verbal Social Security number for enrollment, weakening the citizenship test and opening the door for illegal immigrants to obtain benefits.

Walden, who makes his home in Hood River, said Congress needs to look into the number of adults signed up for SCHIP. He said states are given leeway in how federal funding is spent but, according to Health and Human Services, Minnesota uses 77 percent of its SCHIP to cover adults. Michigan expends 71 percent for adults and more than 50 percent is used for those 18 and older in New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island. In Oregon that number is much smaller, at 19 percent.

On Thursday, Walden signed a letter sent from House Republicans to the president. The document outlines these general principles for creating a new SCHIP proposal that could gain bipartisan support:

• First priority must be given to low-income children by enrolling more than 500,000 not currently covered by health insurance.

• SCHIP funding should be used for children only and childless adults already enrolled should be phased out within a year.

• Tax dollars used to fund SCHIP should be spent on people who currently do not have health insurance instead of on those who already have private coverage.

• Funding for SCHIP should not be based on “budget gimmicks” that put the program in financial jeopardy.

• Any reauthorization bill should not include District-specific earmarks or pork projects.

“The sooner we can all get back to the table and stop the politics the sooner we can help children,” said Walden.