Ask your Senator to support affordable health insurance coverage for ALL children!!!
Senate File 48, a bill relating to health care in Iowa, includes provisions for health insurance coverage of all income-eligible children in Iowa, including those without legal resident status.
We advocate on behalf of making affordable coverage available to all children through Medicaid and hawk-i (which provides health coverage to children in families that make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford health coverage in the general market.) Families would have to make less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify. Parents have a co-pay to receive hawk-i coverage for their children.
Currently, Medicaid and hawk-i require five years of legal residence before a legal immigrant child is eligible to apply, and undocumented children can never qualify.
Children have no choice about where they live and should not be penalized by their parents' choices. In addition, since all children are eligible to attend public school, keeping all students well is a public health benefit. Otherwise there is lost time from studies, additional medical costs for all, and lost time for their parents at work.
We believe that society will be better off if we can find a way for people without legal status to contribute to the health care system and get the care they need to stay healthy. Leaving people out of the system hurts us all.
Contact your Senator today by email or phone. The Senate switchboard number is 515-281-3371.
For more information contact Carrie Fitzgerald, Senior Health Policy Associate, Child and Family and Policy Center, at carrief@cfpciowa.org. |
