PICO affiliate Metro Organizations for People (MOP) in Denver, together with allies in the 2010 Cover All Kids Initiative, achieved a major victory late last week with the passage of two pieces of legislation that together will expand health coverage to 55,000 uninsured children across Colorado.
In February, MOP and its allies kicked off a statewide campaign to expand health coverage to every child in Colorado by 2010. As a first step towards covering the state's 150,000 uninsured children, MOP leaders and clergy have been working for the past three months to urge legislators to pass Senate Bills 160 and 161. Late last week, the House and Senate passed both bills by wide margins.
SB 160 will expand the Child Health Plan – Colorado's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – by increasing eligibility to children in families making up to 225 percent of the federal poverty level, up from the current 205 percent, as well as increasing eligibility for Medicaid's Baby and Kid Care program from 100 to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. It will also provide greater access to mental health services for children. SB 161 will remove administrative barriers to applying for Medicaid and the Children Health Plan. The current application process – which requires families to submit loads of forms, paperwork and paystubs – acts as a serious obstacle to thousands of families who otherwise qualify. Governor Bill Ritter has committed to sign both pieces of legislation.
At a press event sponsored by the Speaker of the House, MOP board chair Gordon Duvall, who works as a pediatric nurse practitioner, commended the passage of the bills as steps in the right direction while calling on the Legislature to finish the job by 2010. There are still more than 100,000 uninsured Colorado children who will remain unreached by the two current bills.
In February, MOP and the 2010 Cover All Kids Initiative launched a statewide campaign to expand health coverage to all children by 2010. Over the last three months, MOP leaders and clergy have testified at legislative hearings, visited with representatives, and generated e-alerts from a list of 800 MOP leaders and supporters. MOP is also working to improve health care access on the local level. On May 8, St. Therese's local organizing ministry in Aurora will hold a public meeting to press Aurora's three hospitals to take specific steps to improve their charity care operations, as well as seek an agreement from Aurora Public Schools to establish their system's first school-based clinic.
For more information on Metro Organizations for People, visit www.mopdenver.org
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