WASHINGTON — The Bush administration appears to be softening a policy that states have complained hindered their efforts to expand healthcare
coverage for poor children under a popular state-federal insurance program.
In a letter sent to states Wednesday, the administration says it will give states more flexibility to prove that they have enrolled 95% of poor children from eligible families — a condition, laid out in an August directive, for using federal funds to expand coverage under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Hardly any state meets that threshold, and since then, several states, including New York and Ohio, have been forced to scale back their plans to expand coverage beyond children from families at twice the poverty level of $42,400 for a family of four.