Washington and State Officials at Odds Over Health Insurance for Kids
State officials and the Bush administration are not seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to health insurance for children. As the Congress prepares to renew an existing health insurance plan for children, governors and state officials are making it clear that they have a different view of the program’s future.
Throughout the country, governors and Medicaid directors have supported a bill that would more than triple funding from about $5 billion a year to more than $15 billion for the program. This would help officials to reach out to 5.5 million uninsured children who are presumed eligible for government health insurance based on their incomes. In addition, they could continue to provide health insurance to populations whose incomes are above the threshold the program was originally designed to serve.
The Bush administration wants to return the program to its original roots - children whose families earn too much for Medicaid but not more than twice the poverty level. Presently, that threshold is $41,300 for a family of four.
Published on June 18, 2007
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