Heineman supports insurance extension, mum on expansion

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BY NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Gov. Dave Heineman supports the extension of the children’s insurance program that provides health protection to about 45,400 Nebraska children a year.

But he is noncommittal about expanding the program and about the bill recently vetoed by President Bush that would have extended it. 

“The governor does believe that SCHIP (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program) is a very important program. And he is in favor of the extensions of that program,” said Heineman spokeswoman Jen Rae Hein.

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Gov. Dave Heineman

Gov. Dave Heineman

But he is not commenting on the expansion of the program, she said on Thursday, a day after Bush vetoed the expansion and Republican leaders said they believe they have enough votes to hold the veto.

The governor believes the program needs to be handled at the federal level, and the federal government needs to quit playing politics with it, said Hein.

The proposed expansion would give Nebraska additional federal money  that could be used to enroll more children in the health insurance program Nebraska calls Kids Connection, said Jennifer Carter, with the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest. 

Nebraska did a great job initially in enrolling children, she said. 

“My sense is that they have scaled back their outreach efforts.  This would allow them to put more effort into increasing enrollment.”

The Kids Connection program cost about $47.8 million last fiscal year, with about $12.5 million coming from state tax dollars.

Thousands of children whose families meet the state’s income guidelines — 185 percent of the federal poverty level — are not enrolled in the program and have no insurance.

But the state and Appleseed have widely disparate estimates for that number.

The state Health and Human Services Department estimates about 4,500 children eligible for the insurance program are not participating, said Marla Augustine, an HHS spokeswoman.

But Nebraska Appleseed estimates that between 15,000 to 17,000 Nebraska children are eligible, don’t have insurance and are not participating.

Appleseed hopes that, at the least, the state would increase its outreach and enrollment efforts with the additional money available if Congress overrides the veto,  Carter said. 

The advocacy agency also would like to see the state increase the income eligibility so families with an income level at 200 percent of the federal poverty level could participate. And they want the state to allow children to stay on the program for 12 months without a review, rather than the current six months.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.