Editorial: Work to improve new health insurance plan

In 1997 Congress created a nationwide health insurance program to help financially struggling families get medical coverage for their children. It was recognized that without access to medical care, untreated illnesses can affect a child's performance in school and, in the worst cases, result in debilitation that can't be reversed. The program was set up to be a partnership between the states and federal government, with the federal government paying 65 percent of the costs while the states assume the remaining costs and implement their own tailor-made plans.

Despite its initial fanfare, the program has gotten off to a slow start. As President Clinton told the National Governors' Association last week, while there are 10 million children without insurance, only 1.3 million have been enrolled in the program so far. States, including Nevada, assert it has been difficult to build a new program from scratch and see immediate results. While that may be true, the states also need to use aggressive outreach efforts to enroll children.

Some members of Congress now want to take back the unspent funds on the program and use them for other purposes, such as tax cuts. Congress should resist this temptation and allow the states enough time to develop their programs. At the same time, however, Nevada and other states still struggling to enroll children should be more innovative in their enrollment drives. Otherwise, funding for this important program may be jeopardized.

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