By Jocelyn Guyer

Details are starting to emerge on what is in the new Senate deal on a public option, but we’re still trying to figure out what it means for low-income children and families.  So far, we know it does not include a Medicaid expansion to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which would have helped lots of additional children secure the EPSDT benefit (the “gold standard” of coverage for kids) and secure better cost-sharing and premium protection for their parents and other adults. (But, this issue likely will still be on the table for discussions between the House and the Senate – -the House bill includes the Medicaid expansion to 150 percent of the FPL.)

Also, sounds like it may include some improvements to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are now reporting that the negotiators might include a 2-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It isn’t clear yet what this means, nor whether it has implications for the efforts of Senator Bob Casey to pursue a far broader set of improvements for children’s coverage. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, Donna Cohen Ross has come out with the latest in her definitive, comprehensive series of annual surveys for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured of where states are on coverage of children and families in Medicaid and CHIP.  She has promised to blog on the new findings later this week, but, for now, the bottom line is that “despite the economic downturn that’s busting state budgets from Sacramento to Tallahassee, 26 states this year made it easier for low-income children, parents or pregnant women to get health coverage, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation”. Great news, but.. and you knew there might be a “but”… the report warns that this progress may be at risk if steps aren’t taken to continue to help states with their budget crises past the end of 2010.