1. National: Benefits to Real People, Real Lives For many of our nation's most vulnerable citizens, early health insurance reforms will be extremely helpful. This cannot be overstated. It is unfortunate that some, such as contributor John Goodman, seek to dismiss the importance of eliminating lifetime caps and pre-existing condition exclusions as impacting "only a small fraction of people." In fact, these early reforms are nothing less than a lifeline for those with cancer, asthma, diabetes, spina bifida, bleeding disorders such as hemophilia, and a range of other conditions that lead insurance companies to deny or limit coverage every day. As George Washington University Professor Sara Rosenbaum has pointed out, "a child who develops autism, or cancer, or sickle cell disease, or cystic fibrosis should not face discrimination either at the point of enrollment or following enrollment." For children, this is nothing less than a life or death issue. A child living with a congenital heart condition can reach the "lifetime cap" at a very young age despite the need for further heart surgeries as he or she develops over time. The range, reach, and impact of these crucial health insurance reforms go well beyond those immediately affected. Each of us know someone who relied on health insurance to cover a critical procedure or health care need only to find their coverage denied at such a vulnerable moment. These situations are the reason most people buy health insurance, and the health reform law's early reforms will help ensure every person with insurance has the guarantee of full coverage, especially when it is urgently needed. Just in the past few weeks, national media attention focused on the story of Houston Tracy, a newborn who needed life-saving surgery to repair a heart defect. Houston was denied health insurance coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas because his defect was declared a "pre-existing condition." Public outrage forced Blue Cross Blue Shield to find a solution and provide such coverage for the child's care and treatment. For Houston Tracy, his family, and the hundreds and thousands of American children in similar situations, halting coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions is something that the legislation addressed. It should not be undermined and cannot be understated. Mr. Goodman also declares the "polls are clear," despite evidence that actually shows public opinion is still very much undecided on the overall health reform package. However, it is actually on the matter of these early insurance reforms that the nation's viewpoint is quite apparent. With respect to provisions related to prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults up to age 26 to continue to receive insurance coverage on their parents' plan, the public overwhelming supports both provisions by 73-26% and 82-16% margins, respectively. In the end, if you're still questioning whether early reforms are helpful or just trivial, just ask the Tracy family. [Bruce Lesley, National Journal Online, 04/12/10] 2. National: Five Ways Health Care Reform Will Help Kids Whether or not you are for or against the new health care reform law, I have learned this bill has some benefits for children who go without quality health care. Here are just a few ways that health care reform could be good for our kids: * Health insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions. * Health insurance companies will no longer place lifetime caps on policies or drop a patient if they get sick. * Health insurance companies will be required to pay for preventive services, including medical procedures as vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. * For parents of older kids, you now will be able to keep them on your insurance until they are 26 years old. * The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which helps lower-income families, will be maintained in its current condition even by states that are looking to cut costs. This reform will hopefully begin to address many of the new childhood health-related problems we are seeing in staggering numbers such as obesity and type 1 diabetes. This reform will also provide proper health education for millions of parents who are unable to access this information. [Ebony Stith, Orlando Sentinel, 04/08/10] 3. Montana: State Lawmakers Urge More Signups for Children's Health Insurance Program The state's new expanded health insurance plan for children is slowly gaining enrollment, but key lawmakers urged health officials to push harder on signing up eligible kids. "This is a program that Montana voters have put in your hands to try and make it work," said Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams, D-Missoula. "Anything you can do to make it work better or faster, the better." Williams and two other senators met with state health and budget officials about the progress of Healthy Montana Kids, the new, voter-approved expansion of government health insurance programs that covers kids from low- and moderate-income families. Montana voters in November 2008 overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure creating the program, which expanded the eligibility of two established public health insurance plans: Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Backers of the program said the expansion would bring coverage to 29,000 additional Montana kids without health insurance. Yet in the first four months of Healthy Montana Kids, which was launched last October 1, only 4,200 additional children have gained coverage. Health officials recounted problems they've had with a new computer system for public-assistance programs and a backlog created by a big increase in applications for welfare, food stamps and other assistance programs, because of the economic recession. They said they believe they've "turned the corner" on resolving the worst of the delays, but it still often takes more than a month to process many applications. The state also launched a new advertising campaign in late March, to promote sign-ups for Healthy Montana Kids. Anna Whiting Sorrell, director of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, assured lawmakers that Healthy Montana Kids is the "top priority" of her agency. She also said she prefers to compare current enrollment to amounts from November 2008, when voters passed the ballot measure. Based on that benchmark, the state has added 10,500 kids to Medicaid and CHIP through January 31--although the expanded eligibility for the programs didn't become effective until October 2009. "We feel it's most appropriate to look at how the numbers increase over that time (period)," Sorrell said. Mary Dalton, the agency's Medicaid and Health Services branch manager, said she remains hopeful that the state will add the 29,000 additional kids to the plan. Healthy Montana Kids covered about 74,600 kids as of Jan. 31, compared to 70,400 last September and 64,000 in November 2008. [Mike Dennison, Missoulian, 04/13/10]