1. Hawaii's 2007 Income Guidelines The federal government increased its income limits for 2007. A revised chart for children's public health insurance is on our web site at Income Guidelines for QUEST and Medicaid. We also updated our flyers which are available in PDF format in nineteen languages at Flyers and Media Outreach Campaigns. 2. Join The National Covering Kids and Families Network An initiative is underway to continue the national children's health insurance momentum that began in 1998. The network's goal is to enhance the members' capacity to increase access to quality health insurance and reduce the number of uninsured children and families across the nation. Membership is currently free--a form and more details are on our National Covering Kids and Families Network web page. 3. Washington: Expanding Children's Public Health Insurance to 300% FPL State Sen. Jim Clements, R-Selah, bucked Republican leaders and voted Wednesday in favor of a bill to expand health coverage for uninsured children. "I have a basic philosophy when it comes to children: Do no harm," Clements said in a telephone interview. Senate Bill 5093 passed the Democrat-controlled Senate 38-9, with two legislators excused. Sens. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, and Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, voted against the measure, which now goes to the House. "This is why I came to Olympia," Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, the bill's sponsor, said in a news release. If the bill passes the House and is signed by the governor as expected, children of families at 300 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible for subsidized health care insurance. That translates into a family of four earning $62,000 a year. Originally, Gov. Chris Gregoire and her Blue Ribbon Health Care Commission called for setting the eligibility at $51,000 for a family of four, or 250 percent of the federal poverty line. But Democratic legislators pushed for the expanded eligibility. "Yes, 300 percent gave me heartburn," Clements said. "But if I've got to make a decision in favor of children I'll do it." Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, was the only other Republican voting in favor of the bill, which party leaders blasted after their floor amendments failed. Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Vancouver and ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said budget researchers estimate that 60 percent of the new enrollees would drop their private sector coverage. "Six out of 10 new enrollees will be from families who cancel their current private plans in favor of the taxpayers' generosity and the heavily subsidized state plan," Zarelli said. In a telephone interview, Holmquist said expanding coverage likely would eventually break the state budget. "I just don't think it's sustainable," she said. But children's advocates as well as public and private health officials argue that insuring more children would lower their use of emergency rooms, an expensive practice that ends up raising everyone else's private insurance rates. The legislation would extend coverage to another 32,000 kids in the next two years, including up to 10,000 in Yakima County. [by Leah Beth Ward, Yakima Herald-Republic, 02/15/07] 4. Trends in Access to Medicaid and CHIP Maintaining and expanding health insurance for children and parents will likely be in the forefront of health care policy debates in Washington and state capitols in 2007. With states generally in better financial shape since the fiscal crisis earlier in the decade, many have expressed interest in improving access to their Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP). A new 50-state survey shows that one-third of states (17) increased access to health insurance in 2006 and no state cut income eligibility in Medicaid and CHIP for the first time in four years.