Shelton proposes continued health care coverage for foster kids

Sen. Amanda Shelton has introduced a bill to fund the Foster Child Health Insurance Program for the rest of this fiscal year.

The program provides private health insurance coverage for the more than 200 children in foster care on Guam.

The $549,000 appropriated in the 2019 budget to pay for the Calvo's SelectCare plan runs out at the end of this month.

Bill 139-35 would appropriate another $320,000 to ensure coverage continues through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Funding for the program is already required by Public Law 32-189, the proposal for which was introduced in 2014 by then-Sen. Michael San Nicolas.

"In most cases, foster children come from situations of severe abuse or neglect and need immediate and consistent medical care," Shelton stated in a press release. "We must protect our most vulnerable and support our foster families with the best available health insurance."

Tess Arcangel, the administrator of the Department of Public Health and Social Services' Division of Public Welfare, told The Guam Daily Post that children in foster care on island will still be covered under CHIP, the federally funded Children's Health Insurance Program.

CHIP provides qualified children with health coverage under Medicaid.

'Not every doctor accepts CHIP'

San Nicolas called Arcangel's comment "misleading." He points out that "not every doctor accepts CHIP." The private insurance program "fully covers the kids so they can go anywhere their foster family goes to get care."

"If additional funding is needed," San Nicolas said, "supplemental appropriations are always made – and should be again in this case."

Harvest House Director Bethany Taylor told the Post that Arcangel is "accurate – foster children do have health insurance through the Medicaid program." Harvest House is a ministry for foster children and families.

The problem, she said, is that many of the physicians on island do not take Medicaid. Taylor, who is a foster parent, said the prospect of losing the private health insurance has made "all of us foster parents very sad."

"Our foster children deserve the very best," she said.

The month of May is National Foster Care Month. Shelton has called for a roundtable discussion Friday on the foster care system on Guam.