Poll: strong support for spending more on kids' health insurance

CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire voters want both the state and federal governments to spend more money on providing health insurance to poor children, according to a poll released Monday.

The New England Alliance for Children's Health survey found that nearly nine in 10 voters favor expanding the state Healthy Kids program, which administers free Medicaid coverage for the poorest children and provides subsidized coverage for children whose families make a little too much to be eligible for Medicaid.

Support for spending more remained high even when voters were told how much that would cost: 84 percent favor Congress increasing funding by $8 billion, at a cost of about $28 per American. Nearly 90 percent favor increasing state funding for the program, though that question did not include a dollar amount.

"New Hampshire voters seem willing to put their money where their mouth is, and their support for the Healthy Kids program and increasing funding for that program stays strong even when they know there'll be a personal cost to them," said Michael Perry of Lake Research Partners, which conducted the survey.

At the state level, Gov. John Lynch has proposed spending $10 million over the next two years to boost enrollment in Healthy Kids by 10,000 in the next three years. Lynch, a Democrat, has warned that under President Bush's proposed health care budget, 6,000 New Hampshire children could lose coverage.

"As a pediatrician, I can tell you investing state dollars into children's health insurance is money well spent," said Dr. Rob Nordgren, director of Child Health Services in Manchester, where most of the patients are covered under Healthy Kids.

"Children who have health insurance are more likely to get the preventive health care they need, such as screening tests and immunizations," he said. "And children with health insurance are also less likely to go to the hospital emergency department for care, which is costly and inefficient."

According to the poll, support for expanding the state program crossed political party lines. Respondents with children under the age of 18 were only slightly more likely to support expansion than those with no young children.

The telephone poll of 401 New Hampshire voters was conducted Jan. 26-Feb. 8 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Funding was provided by the Healthy New Hampshire Foundation, the Endowment for Health and the National Association of Children's Hospitals.

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