Kids on the chopping block- the Children’s Health Insurance Program

Sen. Max Baucus recently identified the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program as the most important national legislative achievement of the decade. The achievement is especially important in Montana, thanks to the creation of Healthy Montana Kids http://www.healthymontanakids.org/ , the new plan that broadens and simplifies existing programs and ensures health coverage for most of Montana’s 35,000 uninsured children. Unfortunately, as the national health reform effort nears the finish line, CHIP and HMK are on the chopping block.

Healthy Montana Kids is the offspring of I-155, passed overwhelmingly by Montana voters in 2008. The initiative expanded eligibility for CHIP and Medicaid, put them both under the Healthy Montana Kids umbrella, and prescribed a new, proactive approach to enrollment. Children in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level — about $52,000 per year for a family of four — qualify. And hospitals, schools and other “enrollment partners” will help the state sign kids up. The Department of Health and Human Services has been working hard to roll out the plan.

By John Morrison

Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/article_67ed185e-08aa-11df-abbb-001cc4c03286.html