Funds Added for Children’s Health Insurance
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services on Monday voted 3-1 to approve a plan by Assembly member Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) to expand children's health insurance coverage, the Sacramento Bee reports. The plan would add $50 million for children's health insurance to the fiscal year 2006-2007 state budget.
Chan's proposal is modeled after legislation (AB 772) she supported last year, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 5/9). The bill would have raised income eligibility for state health insurance programs to allow more children to enroll. The legislation would have allowed the use of a single form to determine eligibility for subsidized school lunches and state health insurance programs and made state health coverage available to undocumented immigrant children (California Healthline, 10/11/2005).
Chan's revised proposal over three years would expand health insurance coverage for children.
According to the Bee, the subcommittee's approval of the measure will push legislators and Schwarzenegger "to accept or reject the proposal as they debate spending" for FY 2006-2007 (Sacramento Bee, 5/9).