Maine has among the lowest rates of residents without health coverage in part because it has extensive MaineCare programs that target children and their parents. This coverage is not certain, however, and Maine will run short of funds this year under current projections and will have more trouble with federal funding in succeeding years if the Bush administration’s spending levels remain.

Maine has covered children for about a decade through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides favorable federal matches to encourage states to offer coverage to children whose family incomes are 200 percent of poverty or lower. Maine also covers parents whose incomes are below 200 percent of poverty not only because the coverage results in healthier adults, but it is an effective way to attract them to sign up their kids.

Though approximately 11,000 children in Maine qualify but are not enrolled in SCHIP, the state may not be able to help them under the current budget. It may, in fact, not be able to help everyone already enrolled – its budget is expected to fall short of balancing by about $6.5 million under the current federal fiscal year and be in considerably worse shape next year to serve the 14,800 children on its rolls.

Nationally, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that simply maintaining the current number of SCHIP beneficiaries would cost an added $13.4 billion over the next five years; the administration has budgeted an added $5 billion, meaning that the programs would reduce eligibility or states would have to pick up a larger share or, probably, both.

A Democratic Congress is unlikely to keep the addition at $5 billion, though some advocacy groups fear it may accept merely maintaining the status quo. The groups are calling for an addition of $60 billion, which includes money to maintain the program, $40 billion to cover nearly 5 million eligible children who are not receiving coverage now, and another $7 billion to cover legal immigrant children and pregnant women in their first five years of residency. Maine currently covers these children without support from the federal government.

SCHIP, as a recent Maine survey shows, is a popular program. It is also a cost-effective way to get kids regular care, often detecting their health problems early and providing treatment that gives them the opportunity to thrive. With a federal budget that assumes the nation cannot afford to take care of its children, SCHIP advocates are right to push for funding by showing both that millions more children could be served and that the public would support the spending.

Maine is fortunate to have all four members of its delegation in support of SCHIP, and two members – Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Tom Allen – on committees in a position do increase its funding. Maine residents should urge them on.