WICS Live: Around the States

Governors Question Medicaid Expansion While Some States Do More With CHIP. At last month’s National Governors Association meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, the nation’s governors voiced their concern with emerging health reform proposals in Congress. Governors on both sides of the aisle fear states will have additional Medicaid obligations under the reform proposals without any additional money to pay for them. While many governors support health care reform, the precarious financial situation in their states make it a terrible time to shift additional costs to the states, the governors told HHS Secretary—and former Kansas governor—Kathleen Sebelius. At the same time, at least 13 states have expanded their state CHIP programs over the last year, investing millions of dollars to cover an additional 250,000 uninsured children. The new CHIP reauthorization law providing over $30 billion in new financing over the next five years, paid largely with an increase in federal tobacco taxes, that allows states to expand coverage to children at higher incomes. States that have expanded eligibility include Alabama, Colorado, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and West Virginia.