This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utahns often talk about how children are our highest priority.

Yet, more than 71,000 children in our state lack a most basic necessity - access to health care. It is a sobering fact that 13 percent of kids in the state - one out of eight - have no health insurance, and the number has grown significantly over the past five years.

Who are these children? It might surprise you that the majority of them live in families in which at least one parent is working full time. These are adults working in jobs that do not provide health insurance or provide it at a cost that is out of reach.

The chances are strong that you know one of these children - from your neighborhood, your job or your church, maybe in your own family. These children lack easy access to primary care and preventive medicine. Minor illnesses can become serious. Serious problems can be devastating for their families.

This problem reaches across the country. Millions of children in this, the wealthiest nation in the world, have no health insurance.

Congress took action to address this problem by creating the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) a decade ago, with support from Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch among others. SCHIP provides health care to more than 4 million low-income children around the country, including more than 100,000 children in Utah.

Now, SCHIP is up for reauthorization. By renewing and strengthening this program, Congress and the administration can make real improvements in the lives of young Americans.

Unfortunately, with health-care costs rising throughout the economy, Utah and other states need additional federal funds simply to continue covering the same number of children they do now.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has proposed tapping state general funds to dedicate $4.2 million to Utah's CHIP program to expand coverage to more children.

This is a worthy proposal and sorely needed. Right now, due to a lack of funding, Utah CHIP has been unable to enroll any new families since last September. CHIP has increased access to insurance for many families, but we need to make sure that door to coverage stays open.

It is time for the Utah Legislature to support this important program. It would be foolish not to dedicate state funds, as every dollar spent by Utah is matched fourfold by the federal government.

And it is also time for our elected officials in Washington, D.C. - led by Sen. Hatch - to make good on our state's promise to make children a priority. They can do that by moving quickly to reauthorize and strengthen the federal SCHIP.

Since 2001, Congress and the president have enacted tax cuts that piled a staggering $1 trillion onto the national debt that will be passed on to our children.

Those who benefit the most from the tax cuts are the wealthiest households. In other words, we have sent tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the most affluent Americans while millions of children remain without health insurance.

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* SARA HOGAN of Orem is Miss Black Utah USA 2006-07.