Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Administration Issues Eligilibility-Limiting Standards For SCHIP

The NYT's Robert Pear reports today that the agency that administers the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has issued new guidelines that could limit eligibility.

The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children's Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.

Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a monthlong Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were intended to return the Children's Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.

A sidenote- the White House has a pattern of pursuing policy goals that Congress has rejected with regulatory and management tools. For example, the IRS offered early retirement to nearly half of all estate tax auditors just after the Senate rejected both a repeal and a roll back of the estate tax. The opportunism of this Administration knows few bounds.

SCHIP advocates are likely to take action on this issue, and we'll post updates as we get them.