Utahns in favor of CHIP funding

Utahns overwhelmingly support Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s goal of expanding health-care coverage to thousands of uninsured children, and they want lawmakers to use the state's record surplus to do so, according to a recent survey from a children's advocacy group.

Nearly 90 percent of those questioned in the poll, commissioned by Voices for Utah Children, favored giving an additional $4.2 million to the Children's Health Insurance Program. Almost as many, 87 percent, thought the money should come from the extra money lawmakers have to spend this year.

The increased funding would provide CHIP coverage to some 12,000 low-income children — half of those estimated by the health department to qualify for the program, which for funding reasons has been closed to new applications since last September.

In its tentative prioritization list, the Health and Human Services Subappropriations Committee placed expanded CHIP funding at number 14. The committee's recommendations will ultimately go to the Executive Appropriations Committee for approval.

The recommendation is disheartening to Karen Crompton, Voices' executive director, who noted that, unless it is moved higher when the group finalizes its priorities today, the increase will likely not be funded by lawmakers this session.

"There is money to fund all of it, it's whether they choose to do it or not," she said.

The public face of Huntsman's push for coverage for Utah's 71,000 uninsured children, Dr. David Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, was a little more optimistic on Friday.

"I'm not depressed, but I'm not sanguine about this either," Sundwall said. "I'm concerned that we'll have to keep making our case about why it makes more sense to add more kids to CHIP and Medicaid."

Lawmakers have $1.6 billion in one-time surpluses and growth in ongoing revenue to spend by the end of this month.

While they've yet to pledge additional financial support to CHIP, lawmakers say they support the program. Earlier this week, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved a resolution encouraging Congress to reau- thorize the program and urging state officials to use the program "to the maximum extent possible."

Sponsoring Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, said CHIP "has been a great blessing" for the 112,000 Utah children who have benefited from the program in the past 10 years.

"This has been a great addition to the health-care access in our state for children," said Knudson, a major player in the creation of Utah's program. "It filled a very important gap."