Sept. 13 Daily News editorial

Figures released Thursday by the Census Bureau give us a first look at the toll this deepest recession since the 1930s is taking on many American families. The national poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent in 2008. That’s an 11-year high, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. Experts expect the poverty rate to keep climbing this year and next, according to Los Angeles Times writers Don Lee and Lisa Girion.

With both the poverty and jobless rates increasing in 2008, the number of Americans without health insurance also rose. Overall, the ranks of the medically uninsured rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million last year. While mostly concerning, this health-coverage data contains some unexpected good news. The number of uninsured children actually declined between 2007 and 2008. There were 7.3 uninsured children nationwide last year, some 800,000 fewer than in 2007.

The Census Bureau data show that the number of uninsured children in this state held steady, at about 107,000, between 2007 and 2008, according to Children’s Alliance. The state advocacy group reported that 93.2 percent of children in the state had health coverage in 2008. Credit both Congress and Washington lawmakers for holding the line with regard to providing care for children.

In 2007, Congress approved a five-year reauthorization and expansion of the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The additional $31.5 billion appropriated for the program extended coverage to 4 million more children, bringing the total number of children covered nationwide to 11 million. Earlier this year, Washington lawmakers — though faced with a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall — protected funding for the program and continued to allow coverage for children in families making up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and legislative leaders have committed themselves to covering all eligible children under the program, called Apple Health for Kids in Washington, by 2010. That may be easier said than done, given the depth of this recession and the prospect of still more job losses in the fall. But we agree with Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children’s Alliance. These leaders “deserve a great deal of credit” for making that commitment.

Certainly, the state has good reason to want to move aggressively to get all children into health plans, as does the nation. Children without medical insurance are 2.5 times more likely to go without care for an illness than are children with coverage, according to the American Hospital Association. Uninsured children are four times more likely to seek treatment in emergency rooms — the most costly treatment, which often is funded in part or in whole with tax dollars.

It’s as President Obama said on the eve of his Inauguration last January: "In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens.”