If you’re worried about the brooding prospect of SCHIP, stay clear of Los Angeles. This week, lawmakers in the ever-compassionate City of Angels have proposed using government funds to cover “ALL” of the city’s uninsured children. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Unified School District both endorsed the ALL Healthy Children Act:
This bill would guarantee health coverage to every child and pregnant woman in the U.S. Last week’s passing of SCHIP legislation in both houses will cover roughly 3 to 4 million of the 9 million uninsured children nationally. Though this is a positive step towards covering all 9 million uninsured children nationally, Mayor Villaraigosa sees covering all children now critical to their performance in the classroom. In a letter to Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) President Marian Wright Edelman, Mayor Villaraigosa states: “In California and in Los Angeles, [the ALL Healthy Children Act] is especially important because we have seen first hand that healthy children perform better in school,” states Mayor Villaraigosa. “This proposal offers policy makers the opportunity to implement viable solutions to the healthcare crisis.” According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, about 1.1 million California children were uninsured at some point in 2005 (most recent year for which data is available) and about 307,000 live in Los Angeles.
Check out more from Reason on why this would be a universal disaster. As for the recently passed SCHIP legislation, let us pray for a veto. Otherwise, what’s this poor guy to do?