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http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/02/26/sonny_perdue_on_schip_give_us.html

Sonny Perdue on SCHIP: ‘Give us more money, but don’t expand past health care for kids’

Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 12:22 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sonny Perdue was one of several governors to appear before Congress on Tuesday, to urge changes in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program — known as SCHIP nationally and PeachCare here.

Based on his prepared remarks, his was a mixed message. On one hand, Perdue said the funding formula for the program punishes success:

“Georgia has done well in implementing SCHIP. We’ve done too well - in fact, we’ve been penalized for it. We’ve enrolled so many kids in SCHIP that our percentage of uninsured children has dropped dramatically. As a state we’ve grown by over 1.5 million citizens since the inception of the program, however we’ve cut the number of uninsured children by over 22 percent.

“And because of a flawed funding model that partially bases states’ allotments on the number of uninsured children, Georgia, along with our neighbors like Mississippi and North Carolina, are facing growing shortfalls.

“The better you are at implementing SCHIP, the less funding you receive. If a state was 100 percent successful and reached all eligible uninsured children, its funding the next year would be drastically cut - because no children would be uninsured.”

But Perdue also condemned an expansion of the SCHIP program to adults — with all the passion of someone on a list of potential Republican vice presidential candidates:

“It is a grave mistake to expand taxpayer funded insurance to a level that undermines personal responsibility for those who are able to purchase private insurance on their own. By focusing funding and enrollment efforts on low income children, we are reaching those most in need, those who have no other options.

“It is not the role of government to provide health insurance for each and every citizen. Our role is to facilitate personal responsibility. We do this by giving people the information they need to make educated health care choices, and by creating tiers of options that help individuals graduate from public plans.

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