Many States Begin To Consider Proposals To Expand Health Insurance To More Residents

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday examined recent efforts by states to expand health insurance coverage to more residents and to make health care more accessible and affordable. According to the Inquirer, legislatures in more than two dozen states have begun to consider proposals to expand health insurance to more uninsured residents, and four recently have enacted such proposals.

Jennifer Tolbert, a policy analyst for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said, "There is clearly broad interest across the country and in many states in developing broad strategies to address the problem of the uninsured" that "seek to build on existing public programs such as SCHIP."

Richard Cauchi, health program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said, "This activity is genuinely local, not national," adding, "Each state is calculating its own needs and resources and checking finance realities." He said, "With 2008 sessions just 12 weeks away, it should be an interesting year" (Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/11).

Opinion Piece
In the absence of federal action on health care, "[s]tates are providing the leadership that is moving health care reform across state lines and building momentum for national reform," Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser (D), and Adam Thompson, senior health policy analyst at the Progressive States Network, write in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece. According to Keiser and Thompson, "we need states to be leaders on health care reform if we are ever to have a federal solution," in part because states are pressuring federal legislators to act on the issue (Keiser/Thompson, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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