2009 was supposed to be the year comprehensive health reform got a complete workup and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) received a multiyear reauthorization. But an economy under assault may turn health policy upside down, with federal policymakers contemplating new stratagems to secure the nation's economic and medical health, while states look to cut Medicaid to stanch hemorrhaging deficits. Each 1 percentage point rise in unemployment is expected to increase Medicaid and S-CHIP rolls by 600,000 children and 400,000 nonelderly adults and costs by $3.4 billion, including $1.4 billion in state spending.

As revenues slump and needs rise, how will federal and state governments handle the pressure? The economy aside, what special issues – such as the unique developmental needs of children and the prevalence of chronic health problems rooted in childhood and adolescence – need to be considered in health care reform? How will children fare in 2009 as the debate proceeds in Washington and state capitals? This Thursday's Child explores the process and politics of children's health policy, the traps that loom when integrating children into large-scale health reform, and more.

Panelists

Shelley Waters Boots, senior research associate, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute (moderator)

Genevieve Kenney, principal research associate, Health Policy Center, Urban Institute

Bruce Lesley, president, First Focus, and former senior health policy adviser to Senator Jeff Bingaman

Wendell Primus, senior policy advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Alan Weil, executive director, National Academy for State Health Policy, and former executive director, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing