California Takes First Step Towards Disenrolling Children from Health Coverage Because of Bush Veto of SCHIP

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

In the wake of President Bush's veto of SCHIP and the stalemate over the reauthorization of the federal children's coverage program, board members of California's Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) on Monday took the first step that would enable the state to put children eligible for Healthy Families on a waitlist, or begin disenrolling eligible children from the program altogether.

Emergency Regulations adopted on Monday can be found here. Healthy Families enrolls approximately 830,000 children in families with incomes between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level ($20,650 to $51,625 for a family of four).

MRMIB Executive Director Lesley Cummings first broached the topic of creating waitlists and disenrolling children from the program last month after President Bush vetoed legislation that extended the sunset for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and would have provided an additional $35 billion over five years to maintain and expand enrollment. SCHIP expired on September 30. Since then Congress and Bush have been at impasse over the program with lawmakers sending the president a largely similar measure to the previously vetoed legislation last week. The new bill is also expected to be vetoed.

Since the September expiration of the SCHIP program, which funds Healthy Families, California has been using up money it has had in reserve from this program. That money, however, runs out on November 16, Cummings said. Healthy Families receives $2 federal dollars for every $1 state dollar put into the program. The 07-08 state budget has appropriated $392 million from the state’s general fund for the program.

Cummings said if the board failed to make a decision and continued operating the program as usual, Healthy Families would run out of money and shut down completely from July 2008 through September 2008.