Federal Rules Impede Health Insurance for Children

Governor Eliot Spitzer has launched an effort to reverse new federal rules that will impede New York’s groundbreaking efforts to insure that every child in NY has health insurance coverage.

Spitzer called on President Bush to approve a plan that will make health insurance available to nearly 400,000 uninsured children.

The new federal rules governing the expansion of state plans under the federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) block New York’s legislatively approved expansion of children’s health insurance, as well as roll back expansions or pending plans in 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Spitzer announced that the state may fight the new federal administrative rules in court on the grounds that they contradict the provisions of the federal SCHIP law and were imposed without notice or the required comment period as required by the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

In April, New York State filed a State Plan Amendment with CMS, seeking federal approval to expand the income eligibility for its Child Health Plus program from the current maximum of 250 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), about $43,000 for a family of three, to 400 percent of the FPL, about $68,000 for the same family.