House passes measure to expand CHIP
HELENA - Legislation expanding the state Child Health Insurance Program was among the handful of bills to move Thursday through the House, while anxiety continued to build about the fate of the state budget.
"I'm scared. It's Day 89," said Deputy Minority Floor Leader Bob Bergren, D-Havre. "I'm terrified that we won't be able to get out of here."
But Republicans continued to express optimism that business will be concluded by today's close of the 90th day, as required by law.
The CHIP bill, sponsored by Sen. Dan Weinberg, D-Whitefish, basically would expand eligibility for child health insurance to households with incomes at 175 percent of the federal poverty level. The current threshold is 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
That change is expected to increase the program's enrollment from about 13,000 slots to about 16,000. Flathead County has the highest share of participation in the program over other counties, with 12 percent of CHIP enrollment, or roughly 1,566 children.
Yet, most of the Flathead delegation in the House voted against Senate Bill 22, which passed the second reading 61-39 and is expected to get final approval today in the House.
Republican Reps. George Everett, Mark Blasdel, Jon Sonju and Craig Witte voted against the bill, while Bill Jones voted for it. Democratic Reps. Doug Cordier and Mike Jopek also supported it.
Republican opponents mainly expressed concern about incremental increases in the program, as well as increases in the federal poverty level, feeding an increasing dependency on government for health care.
Rep. Jon Sinrud, R-Bozeman, said that the household income eligibility will increase from roughly $31,000 to about $36,000. In a state that is 49th in the nation in household income, he said, further expansion of the eligibility threshold could qualify most children in the state for the program.
Rep. Rick Jore, the Legislature's sole Constiution Party lawmaker, said the bill is "immoral" because it relies heavily on matching funds from a federal government that simply is passing deficits on to future generations.
The program expansion requires $1 million in state funding to get $4 million in federal funds.
Several Democrats and Republicans spoke passionately in favor of the legislation.
Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said that an estimated 37,000 Montana children are uninsured.
Rep. Penny Morgan, R-Billings, said a catastrophic incident involving a single child could include medical bills that easily would exceed the $1 million expansion that is being debated.
Others said that the aim of the program is to provide children with adequate, up-front medical care, rather than having deferred care with costs that are shifted to taxpayers or insurance-premium payers.