Taking care of Colorado's uninsured children

From the Geezer:

[A]n ambitious piece of legislation that sought to provide Colorado’s 180,000 uninsured kids with health care by 2010, was pared to a shell of itself this year because of concerns that it would cost too much.

Gee, I wonder how it got pared to nothing.

Rather than wait for legislators to craft a cheaper solution, though, a private nonprofit has taken on what officials did not want the state government to do. The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved is working with volunteers to go into poor communities, find children who are eligible for Medicaid or the Colorado Child Health Plan and sign them up for the government-run plans.

Molly Markert, the coalition executive director who is also in charge of the KidzBlitz program, acknowledges that volunteers are not likely to find every uninsured child in the state. But two pilot programs through Arapahoe County churches netted a surprising 100 enrollees earlier this summer, and Markert plans to expand the drive throughout the state later this year, putting special emphasis on El Paso County.

Let's hope this program is successful. But even the most well intentioned non-profit can't reach as many children as local government entities. More from the article:

Gov. Bill Ritter, she pointed out, has a goal of getting all children insured by 2010.

“It’s about priorities,” Lindsay said of any needed budgetary changes.

The sponsors of Senate Bill 211, Democratic Sen. Bob Hagedorn of Aurora and Democratic Rep. Anne McGihon of Denver, praised the KidzBlitz program for keeping the spirit of their bill alive. Though McGihon noted that volunteers won’t have as many resources as government workers, and Hagedorn said he plans to introduce a similar bill next year, both said they believe the program can make a difference.

These volunteers “really understand the importance of health care to young people,” Hagedorn said. “I think people are sensitive to the cost that any kind of health care expansion would have, but they feel that covering children is important.”

Children who start their lives healthy can be successful in school and become fully functional and productive members of our society. Those are the children I want in my community.