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CORRECTION: The headline that first appeared on this item was wrong! The bill does not delay the start of coverage for children whose families earn as much as three times the federal poverty level.
The bill they passed, HB 2128, instead delays a plan for people whose income is HIGHER than 300 percent of FPL. That was done because the House decided to change the benefit package to something less generous than that afforded to folks under 300 percent of poverty. Otherwise, it would have been so expensive that probably nobody would have bought it.
For a family of four, three times federal poverty level is $63,600 a year. Children in those families can now get state subsidized health insurance, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009. (Thanks to President Obama, who reversed Bush Administration directive that blocked that program.)
The Washington state House of Representatives vote was 68-28. A few Republicans joined majority Democrats voting in favor.
The programs is just for the kids, not their parents. The delay to the program for kids above 300 percent of poverty level is until Jan. 1, 2010.
The state Department of Social and Health Services has until then to design that program and, if HB 2128 passes, it won't have to be as generous in benefits as the ones below that threshold.
Families whose income falls between 2.5 and 3 times Federal Poverty Level will have to pay a modest co-pay on premiums to cover their children. I think it's a sliding scale with a max of $30 or $40 a month.
Minority Republicans say Democrats aren't really making health care coverage available to more kids because such coverage already exists in the private sector. They are just expanding how much the state pays for. Here is Rep. Doug Ericksen's rebuttal.
House Bill 2128 also would rename the Children's Health Insurance Program, which has the snappy acronym CHIP, to the Apple Health for Kids Program, which henceforth shall be known as AHKP.
It's part of the Legislature's long-term plan to give all state programs unpronounceable acronyms. Lawmakers briefly considered calling Apple Health "WASL" but that has become sorta pronounceable. It will, however, soon be available for use because school chief Randy Dorn is getting rid of the WASL. (That last paragraph was a joke, by the way.)
