Coloradans call on Congress to restore kids' insurance aid

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Less than half of lower-income working families receive health insurance from their employers, a 9 percent drop in the past decade, according to a study released Wednesday.

Some 47 percent of parents nationwide earning less than $40,000 are offered health insurance from their employers, while offers of health insurance to families earning $80,000 or more have held steady at 78 percent during the same period.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released the report as Congress debates reauthorizing the state Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, which provides each state with federal funds to design a health insurance plan for children not poor enough for Medicaid but not earning enough to buy private insurance.

"SCHIP funds are the only thing that has mitigated the increase in uninsured because employers aren't providing as much health care," said Anne Warhover, chief executive of the Colorado Health Foundation. She was joined by leaders of groups including the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry and the head of Children's Hospital, who met Wednesday to show support for reauthorization of the federal program.

Some 20 percent of Colorado's 4.7 million residents don't have insurance. In a state that had a 4.1 percent unemployment rate in January, that indicates a large number of working Coloradans don't have insurance.