1. Hawaii: Keiki Care Bill Signed
Governor Linda Lingle signed HB 1008 (Act 236) on 30 June 2007. Details about the bill's provisions are on our web site at: Uninsured Gap Group Kids.
Implementation information will be posted as soon as it is available.
2. Elements of State Health Reform: Covering Kids
The Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices presented a webcast on 19 June 2007 with a panel of health policy experts discussing the mechanisms being used to expand coverage to children, including the state children's health insurance program (CHIP), Medicaid expansions, and state-only programs. Moderated by Larry Levitt, Kaiser Family Foundation vice president, speakers included Jacqui Ellinger, Division of Medical Programs deputy administrator at Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, George Hoover, deputy commissioner of Pennsylvania Insurance Department's CHIP and adultBasic Programs, and Wisconsin medicaid director Jason Helgerson. A video, podcast, and transcript are available.
3. Ohio: Child Health Insurance Sails to Governor
After Governor Strickland signs the bill, more poor children will be eligible for Medicaid coverage, eligible middle-class families will be able to buy into the government insurance program for a low premium, and higher-wage families with children uninsurable through the private market will be able to get coverage. Ohio joins an increasing number of states that have mobilized to cover more kids and reach out to children already eligible but not applying. As of May, 32 states and the District of Columbia had enacted or announced coverage initiatives for children, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
He said he thinks the budget delivers on his promise to insure all Ohio kids, though some families still must pay to receive coverage. "For the first time in Ohio, every kid can access affordable health care." In addition to the traditional Medicaid coverage available to low-income children, Strickland touted the budget's expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover children in families earning up to 300 percent of the poverty level and a separate provision that extends a Medicaid buy-in option to families whose children have catastrophic health conditions that make it difficult or impossible for them to get health insurance on the private market. "It's not going to be free," he said. "These are families that may make quite a bit of money but, because of special needs, their child cannot gain access to coverage." [Newark Advocate, 06/28/07]
4. National: Lawmakers Reach Broad CHIP Deal
U.S. lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee said they'd reached the outlines on a deal to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). According to lawmakers, the CHIP deal will allow the government to pour $35 billion into the program over the next five years and fund the entire expansion with a 61-cent increase in federal cigarette taxes. The figure is significantly less than the $50 billion favored by Democrats and a handful of moderate Republicans. But Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, who chairs the Finance Committee, has so far been unable to reach an agreement with Republican leaders over the larger package, even though the Senate approved $50 billion for CHIP in its budget resolution earlier this year.
The deal would extend health coverage to an estimated 2 million of the 6 million uninsured American children eligible for CHIP but not enrolled partly because of shortfalls in the program, said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon. Smith is the lead proponent of using a hike in tobacco taxes to pay for the expansion. If it becomes law the increase would boost the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.
Baucus said he expects to schedule a markup of the legislation next week. "Members of the Finance Committee are coming together on a final agreement to renew the Children's Health Insurance Program," he said. [by Todd Zwillich, UPI, 07/11/07]
|
