Kerry pitches "KidsFirst" bill during Seattle visit

At a time when the Bush administration is proposing to reduce spending on Medicaid, U.S. Sen. John Kerry joined state Democratic leaders in Seattle yesterday to urge that government spend billions of dollars more to provide health insurance for children of all working-class Americans.

Appealing to the "conscience of a nation" that is the wealthiest in the world, Kerry urged an enthusiastic crowd of 700 at Town Hall to back his "KidsFirst" legislation. The bill calls for spending an estimated $264 billion during the next 10 years to extend health coverage to people under 21 with family incomes of up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (currently $58,050 for a family of four).

Kerry's bill is among the most ambitious legislation pending before Congress to promise relief to the ranks of uninsured Americans — 45 million and growing. Some 11 million of the uninsured are children, including 98,000 people 18 and under in Washington state.

Kerry was joined by Gov. Christine Gregoire, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jim McDermott. Murray is the co-sponsor of a Senate version of Kerry's bill. Seattle was Kerry's third stop nationwide to pitch his plan; he is scheduled to also visit St. Paul, Minn.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Miami this week.

Medicaid spending was one of the most contentious items in the 2006 federal-budget agreement reached last week. Federal and state governments, which jointly pay for Medicaid, spend about $300 billion a year to cover the poor and the disabled. That cost has risen by an average of 10 percent a year for the past five years.

President Bush originally wanted to cut $60 billion from the program's projected spending during the next decade. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress ultimately backed a $10 billion cutback in Medicaid's growth over the next five years, a move denounced by Democrats.

Covering children is relatively inexpensive because they are generally healthy. Without insurance, half of all children forgo annual well-child visits and a third of the children with chronic asthma do not get needed medication, studies show.

Providing insurance for kids "is not only popular, but it's also critical," Murray said.

About 6 percent of Washington children lacked insurance, according to the 2004 biennial state population survey. Poorer kids were nearly 2 ½ times more likely to be uninsured than children from families earning more than 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

The uninsured rate for young adults tends to spike at ages 19 and 20 as they are dropped from their parents' health plans, said Jenny Hamilton, senior health-policy analyst with State Planning Grant on Access to Health Insurance, a federal grant designed to research access to health insurance.

Virtually all the uninsured Americans are under 65, since most seniors are eligible for Medicare.

Overall, 606,000 Washington residents, or nearly 10 percent of the population, did not have health insurance last year. Among state residents 65 and under who had coverage, more than 17 percent belong to public programs such as Medicaid and the Basic Health Plan, up from nearly 9 percent in 2002.

Washington is among a small number of states that already provide health insurance to children from families with incomes up to 250 percent of the poverty level, far beyond what's required by federal Medicaid rules. For instance, the state is required to provide Medicaid coverage to children through age 5 only up to 133 percent of the poverty level and children to age 18 only up to 100 percent of the poverty level.

The Kerry plan calls for the federal government to pay the full cost of covering people under 21 with family incomes at or below the poverty level. Washington state now pays about 50 percent of that cost. In exchange, states would be required to provide insurance for children from families earning up to 300 percent of the poverty level.

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com