Gov’s veto denies healthcare to vulnerable

By Bettye Davis
Gov. Sean Parnell’s veto of Senate Bill 13 was at the expense of Alaska’s most vulnerable citizens. Going against the overwhelming bipartisan support of 52 of 60 legislators in favor of the bill, his veto was shortsighted, socially and fiscally irresponsible and denies an additional 1,277 poor children and 218 pregnant women eligibility to health insurance under Denali KidCare. The irony is that SB 13 simply re-establishes the income eligibility to the level it was 10 years ago, raising it from 175 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline. Alaska remains only one of four states in the United States below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline for its State Children’s Insurance Program, which is 70 percent funded by federal matching funds.
The governor claims he did not know the federal Medicaid/Denali-KidCare program funded reproductive counseling and services. While it might have been anticipated that a few more unavoidable and medically necessary induced terminations of pregnancies allowable under the law would be funded under SB 13, he must have known that all state Medicaid programs must continue to pay for public health, nutritional and reproductive counseling and medical services for pregnant women. This is not new information.
Medicaid finances 51 percent of all births in Alaska, and at least four in 10 of all births nationally (see “Medicaid’s Role for Women,” Kaiser Family Foundation, October, 2007). Worse, the veto shreds a federally funded nationwide health safety net which will cost the state $1.6 million in lost federal matching dollars in 2011 alone; $23.7 million over the next 10 years.
Gov. Parnell’s veto — which denies comprehensive health insurance to additional children and pregnant women under Denali KidCare — will force many of these individuals to seek medical assistance in largely uncompensated emergency rooms or other service agencies where the follow-up is negligible. The veto denies routine checkups at doctors’ offices, prenatal, dental, vision, mental health, speech, physical and occupational therapy services, as well as substance abuse treatment.
Parnell’s veto of SB 13 was not about money and it clearly was not about family values, because it harms those among us who are least able to protect themselves. His veto has exacerbated early detection of health problems among the young, inflicted greater financial burdens on individuals, families, hospitals and the state, and has resulted in a loss of the public trust. In his self-described act of conscience, Gov. Parnell’s veto does not seem like the decision of someone who purports to be a public servant for all the families of Alaska. No bill was ever more pro-family, pro-life, and pro-Alaska than SB 13.

Sen. Bettye Davis represents District K – Anchorage, and currently serves as Chair of the State Health, Education and Social Services Committee.