Healthcare Portability

In "Study Warns Jobs Losses Will Strain Government Health Programs," (NY Times, 4/29/08), Kevin Sack reported on a Kaiser Family Foundation report that "projected that each rise in unemployment of one percentage point would also add 600,000 children and 400,000 adults to the two primary state and federal health insurance programs for the low-income uninsured. That would require an additional $3.4 billion for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, with $1.4 billion of it from the states."

Of course, what anyone with even the slightest state government experience knows is that unemployment translates into smaller tax revenues available for states to devote to social services.  The Urban Institute founds that a 1% increase in unemployment actually results in an expected 3-4% drop in state general fund revenues.  While some states don't collect income taxes, unemployment still results in reductions in sales tax and property tax collections as spending falls across the economy in times of recession. 

It is one thing to offer exemplary health services during boom-times, but at the end of the day, how can we ensure government services are available during the times when they are needed most?