Late this spring, the Alaska legislature overwhelmingly passed an expansion of Denali KidCare (Alaska’s CHIP program), from 175% to 200% of the FPL, a policy that Governor Parnell had indicated support for earlier this year, but switched directions on last week.  Currently, Alaska is one of only three states that still doesn’t cover children at or above 200% of the FPL, the others being Idaho and North Dakota. (Oklahoma is currently at 185% but has had a state-approved expansion in the works for a while now).

The Alaska Legislature’s action was actually a restoration of Alaska’s CHIP program.  Until 2003, Denali KidCare had been available to children in families with incomes up to 200% of the FPL.  In 2003, Alaska policymakers decided to cut eligibility and set it at 175% of the 2003 federal poverty level guidelines.  That policy resulted in a declining eligibility level each year as the federal poverty level increased.  In 2007, this meant that the state was only covering children up to 154% of the 2007 FPL.  At this point in 2007, the legislature removed the reference to the 2003 poverty level guidelines so that kids were eligible up to 175% of the current year’s federal poverty level. Since that time, there have been numerous attempts to restore the income eligibility for Denali KidCare to its original levels – efforts which had looked to be very promising this year. The expansion was expected to cover an additional 1,000 children and was sent to the Governor for his signature weeks ago, however, no action was taken until last week when he reversed himself and vetoed the expansion along with a number of other spending measures.

The outcry against the Governor’s veto has been strong and widespread – particularly among state legislators.  We’ll see in the coming days if there is any effort to override his veto and put Alaska back to where it was prior to 2003 and in line with the 47 other states offering coverage to children at or above 200% of the FPL.