Government
Representatives, governors seek SCHIP funding, expansion
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 19, 2007
While President Bush proposed a status-quo, $25 billion, five-year reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program as part of his overall budget request, two Republican and four Democrat lawmakers proposed on Feb. 16 a $37.5 billion, five-year SCHIP extension. The proposal would provide extra funding to states with higher-than-expected enrollment and would be funded through uncollected capital gains taxes owed to the government.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of governors at a Feb. 26 meeting asked Congress to fill the more than $700 million gap in SCHIP funding. The neediest states are expected to run out of money in early May. Georgia's SCHIP, PeachCare for Kids, already has announced that it will not accept new applications after March 11 because the program is facing a $113 million deficit for the rest of fiscal 2007, ending Sept. 30.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/03/19/gvbf0319.htm.
