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Washington – The Bush Administration has instituted a new policy making it harder for states to enroll children in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which currently provides health care coverage to over six million children across the U.S., according to media reports Friday.

The Washington Post reports that under a new Bush Administration policy states “must first ensure that the child is uninsured for at least one year” prior to enrolling a child in the SCHIP program.

The New York Times reports that state officials believe the new policy “could cripple their efforts to cover more children and would impose standards that could not be met.” [Washington Post, 8/21/07; The New York Times 8/21/07]

Last month, Democrats in Congress voted to renew the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and improve it to make coverage available for more children nationwide. The Bush Administration’s new policy follows a presidential veto threat of a bill to renew the program.

“The Bush Administration has sunk to a new low by putting the health and safety of America’s children in jeopardy. It’s not surprising though given that he supported a plan in Texas to let 200,000 children from working families go without health care coverage,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “With the federal government’s help, we were able to make sure all of our Vermont’s children had access to health care and there’s no reason we can’t do that for all children in America.

“Not one child should go a day without health care, let alone one year. President Bush and his Republican allies should stop playing politics with the health of our children and let states provide health care coverage to uninsured children as they see fit. While Democrats are working to ensure that more of our children have access to health care, Republicans are actively working to stop kids from receiving the care they need and deserve. Americans will elect a Democratic President next year to put priorities like health care coverage for America’s children first again.”

States seeking to expand SCHIP eligibility also “must establish a minimum of a one-year period of uninsurance for individuals” in families with incomes greater than 250% of the poverty level to prevent them from switching from a private insurance plan to a public program, the letter states.

President Bush has said a number of times in the past few weeks that he will veto both pieces of health insurance legislation, and that his administration supports a policy of tax breaks to encourage families to buy private insurance.

“The ultimate effect of this new policy is that tens of thousands of children who have health insurance will effectively lose that insurance,” said Morgan Moran, health insurance consultant for www.FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com, a Florida-based consumer group.

The USA spends, as a percentage of its gross national product, more on health than any other developed nation. It also has the highest proportion of its population with no health coverage at all, compared to all other developed nations. American life expectancy is among the lowest of industrial nations. In the European Union there are no children without comprehensive health cover. In the UK a person under 18 also gets all his/her prescription drugs free.