As the economy continues to falter, many Utah residents face the prospect of unemployment and loss of health insurance.

A new report released by Families USA shows that only 25 percent of unemployed workers in Utah receive health coverage through programs such as Medicaid. The study also showed 52 percent of unemployed workers are uninsured.

Two state programs, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) and the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), may help offer relief to those without insurance.

S-CHIP

On Feb. 4, President Obama signed into law the bill which created S-CHIP, a step in providing healthcare for all children in the nation. The program will grant about $32 billion for insurance over the next four years.

CHIP, created in 1997, provided insurance to uninsured children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid.

In 2006, CHIP covered nearly 6.6 million children, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Obama's signature on the new law expanded coverage to an additional four million children and pregnant women, including for the first time, a 'no-wait period' for legal immigrants, which guarantees health coverage for immigrants as soon as they enter the country.

Research done at Brigham Young University and Arizona State concluded children who dropped out of S-CHIP and Medicaid end up costing states more money, due to an increase in emergency room visits and a decrease in physician's office visits.

"Changes that result in disenrollment from public insurance programs will increase the number of emergency department visits and hospital days as well as the total community costs of health care," said the author of the study, "Impact of Medicaid Disenrollement on Health Care and Cost."

Richard Butler, an economics professor at BYU, said expansion of S-CHIP can effect children's health care in two ways.

"To the extent that it provides insurance coverage for the insured, it likely improves health care and may even lower health care costs overall," Butler said.

"On the other hand, it may induce those who are privately insured to opt out of private insurance for the publicly provided S-CHIP insurance, in which case, children's health wouldn't necessarily improve and health care costs overall would likely rise."

COBRA

COBRA, enacted in 1985, mandates insurance programs give qualifying employees the ability to continue coverage even after leaving employment.

According to a separate study released by Families USA, "COBRA provides 18 months of continuation coverage to workers who have been laid off from firms with 20 or more employees."

However, the report states often people can't afford to pay the high COBRA premium, or aren't eligible for the COBRA protection.

Kimball Anderson, chief operations officer and vice president for the MountainStar division of the Utah County hospital network, stressed the need for preventative medicine.

"It's a good thing that we are looking at ways to increase the health of our nation as a whole," Anderson said. "Preventative measures and education is one of the keys to improving the health of our population."



Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Feb 2009