2 aim to restore prenatal funds
LINCOLN -- After being thwarted in using private dollars to help restore prenatal services for unborn children of illegal immigrants, two state lawmakers are now focusing on restoring that care for legal residents who lost their coverage in Nebraska.
State Sens. Brad Ashford and Jeremy Nordquist, both of Omaha, said they're hoping to find a way to restore services to at least the legal residents who lost coverage.
Doing that, Ashford said, might free up more private money to care for illegal residents, whose children automatically become U.S. citizens -- and qualify for government-funded health care -- at birth.
On March 1, 1,619 women in Nebraska lost government-funded prenatal services due to a federal directive. Advocates maintain that the state will spend more money on premature births, emergency deliveries and long-term costs for special education due to the lack of the pre-birth, preventative care.
While 867 of the 1,619 women were here illegally, another 752 were legal residents who lost coverage for a variety of reasons. Those included failing to provide necessary information to be eligible and being sanctioned for not complying with requirements of other welfare programs.
During an executive session of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee over the noon hour, senators discussed the plight of legal residents who lost prenatal coverage, and the increased risks to babies born without such care.
Dr. Kristine McVea, medical director for OneWorld Health Center in South Omaha, said that one study indicated that 40 percent of babies born by mothers that had no prenatal care die within their first year.
"We know the risks are there. It's like playing Russian roulette," McVea said. "It's very, very clear that early and adequate prenatal care saves babies' lives."
The discussion focused on about 83 women who are citizens but lost their coverage because they declined to sign documents related to child support enforcement. Some of those women, senators said, feared they would become victims of domestic violence if they identified sought support from the fathers of their babies.
On Wednesday night, Gov. Dave Heineman rejected a proposal by Ashford, Nordquist and others to use $3 million in private donations to leverage another $7 million in federal funds to restore coverage for all the low-income women who lost coverage.
Heineman repeated his stance that while he supports such coverage for legal residents, he opposes any taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants.
Nordquist said he plans to "hold him to his word" on coverage for legal residents.
Ashford said late Thursday afternoon that he had initially misunderstood what one of the donors told him about the use of the private money.
The senator said that private money is being targeted only toward helping the unborn children of women here illegally.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100325/NEWS01/100329760