(1)The general assembly hereby finds
and declares that a significant percentage of children are uninsured. This lack of
health insurance coverage decreases children's access to preventive health-care
services, compromises the productivity of the state's future workforce, and results
in avoidable expenditures for emergency and remedial health care. Health-care
providers, health-care facilities, and all purchasers of health care, including the
state, bear the costs of this uncompensated care.
(2)The general assembly further finds and declares that the coordination
and consolidation of funding sources currently available to provide services to
uninsured children such as the children's basic health plan, and other children's
health programs would efficiently and effectively meet th
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(1) The general assembly hereby finds
and declares that a significant percentage of children are uninsured. This lack of
health insurance coverage decreases children's access to preventive health-care
services, compromises the productivity of the state's future workforce, and results
in avoidable expenditures for emergency and remedial health care. Health-care
providers, health-care facilities, and all purchasers of health care, including the
state, bear the costs of this uncompensated care.
(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that the coordination
and consolidation of funding sources currently available to provide services to
uninsured children such as the children's basic health plan, and other children's
health programs would efficiently and effectively meet the health-care needs of
uninsured children and would help to reduce the volume of uncompensated care in
the state.
(3) (a) It is the intent of the general assembly to make health insurance
coverage available and affordable and to support employers in their efforts to
provide their employees and their dependents with health insurance coverage and
to support increased availability of affordable health insurance in the individual
market.
(b) It is the intent of the general assembly that the savings and efficiencies
realized through actual reductions in administrative and programmatic costs
associated with the implementation of this article and achieved in consolidating
other health-care programs should be identified.
(4) It is not the intent of the general assembly to create an entitlement for
health insurance coverage.
(5) The general assembly hereby declares that the following principles shall
be used in implementing the children's basic health plan set forth in this article:
(a) The department shall establish and maintain a goal of inter-program
communication in order to maximize existing state appropriations for the
population served in the program;
(b) There shall be efficient program utilization through inter-program
coordination and program consolidation and, where appropriate, through
contracting with the private sector and with essential community providers;
(c) The policies enacted in House Bill 97-1304 regarding a strong managed
care direction shall be emphasized;
(d) The private sector shall be involved to the greatest possible degree with
respect to contracting for managed care;
(e) There shall be maximum emphasis on coordination with local and state
public health programs and initiatives for children.
(6) The general assembly hereby finds and declares:
(a) That the goal of the Children's Basic Health Plan Act is to support low-income, working parents and families in overcoming barriers in obtaining good
quality, affordable health-care services for their children;
(b) That the health services that low-income children receive through the
children's basic health plan should be cost-effective, of high quality, and promote
positive health outcomes for enrolled children;
(c) That the children's basic health plan was designed as, and should
continue to be, a private-public partnership that encourages enrollment and seeks
every opportunity to operate with the efficiency and creativity that is found in
utilizing private sector systems and business practices while maintaining the
highest level of accountability to the general assembly, the executive branch, and
the public through administration of the plan by the department;
(d) That the children's basic health plan was designed as, and should
continue to be, a community-based program that encourages local participation in
enrolling children in and supporting its goals.