DES MOINES, Iowa — National experts on children’s health care will join Lt. Gov. Patty Judge and Iowa policy makers and advocates Friday in Des Moines to discuss ways to cover more children in Iowa.

Both Judge and Cindy Mann of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) will deliver keynote addresses at the SCHIP Reauthorization Summit, co-sponsored by CCF, the Child & Family Policy Center (CFPC) in Des Moines and First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy group in Alexandria, Va.

“All of Iowa’s children should have health coverage, just as the Governor and Lieutenant Governor have proposed,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus and a participant in the event. “SCHIP reauthorization at the federal level represents the most important children’s issue facing Congress, potentially impacting the health of millions of America’s children.”

SCHIP, known in Iowa as hawk-i, is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federal- and state-funded program that broadens health coverage to children in low-income working families up to 200 percent of poverty.

In the just-completed legislative session, Iowa lawmakers with the support of Gov. Chet Culver approved expanding SCHIP coverage to 10,750 more Iowa children, including older youth, children of state employees, pregnant women and immigrant children if federal reauthorization allows states to cover those groups.

“Iowa’s leaders are making it clear they want to move our state to covering all children, but they’ll need federal help,” said Charles Bruner, executive director of CFPC. “Congress needs to provide $50 billion in additional funding for SCHIP over the next five years in order for Iowa to meet its goal of covering more children.”

“We’re too close to turn back now,” Lesley added. “New research shows that children in rural communities rely on programs like hawk-i to protect their health and well-being. Congressional action on SCHIP legislation is imperative to increase the number of children covered under the program.

“Members of the Iowa congressional delegation are in key positions to ensure SCHIP reauthorization enables Iowa to provide that health care to thousands of uninsured Iowa kids.”

Speakers for the summit, which runs from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, include (in order of appearance on the schedule):

  • Barbara Q. Decker, President, Mercy College of Health Sciences
  • Lt. Gov. Patty Judge
  • Bruce Lesley, director, First Focus national office
  • Cindy Mann, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families
  • Carrie Fitzgerald, senior health associate, Child & Family Policy Center
  • State Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines
  • Jody Murph, president, Iowa Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Julie Beckett, founder, Family Voices
  • Aaron McKay, regional director, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa
  • Amy Campos, staff, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa

The Child & Family Policy Center http://www.cfpciowa.org is part of the Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP), a joint budget- and tax-analysis initiative of two nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations, CFPC and the Iowa Policy Project in Mount Vernon. IFP reports are at http://www.iowafiscal.org.