House backs bill to extend health benefits

Associated Press/Kelley McCall

Rep. Barbara Wall Fraser, D-St. Louis, urged House colleagues to extend a children's health insurance program on Thursday.

By David A. Lieb ~ The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- About 77,000 children could continue receiving state health insurance after July 1 under a bill given first-round House approval Thursday.

The Children's Health Insurance Plan -- dubbed MC+ for Kids -- applies to working families who earn too much for the traditional Medicaid program but do not have private insurance.

Approved by voice vote, the legislation would move the program's scheduled expiration from July 1 to July 1, 2007.

The bill needs another House vote before going to the Senate, where passage also is expected.

"It's one of the finest programs our state has had in regards to providing insurance for children in some of the poorest families," said Rep. Barbara Fraser, D-St Louis, the bill's sponsor.

Although there were no audible "no" votes against the bill, state Rep. Pat Naeger led an unsuccessful attempt to tighten the eligibility standards and require some recipients to pick up more of the tab.

"It is responsible and accountable to ask folks who are getting a wide array of health benefits to pay a modest price for those," said Naeger, R-Perryville.

To receive free health care under the program, the child's family income cannot be higher than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Under that formula, a family of four would have been eligible last year with a maximum income of $32,952.

Families above that threshold are charged a $5 co-payment for each visit to a doctor. Families earning between 225 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level -- or up to $52,950 for a family of four last year -- also are required to pay a monthly premium equal to as much as 5 percent of their income.

Failed amendment

Naeger's amendment would have charged the co-payment and premium to new applicants with somewhat lower income levels and would have eliminated the upper tier of eligibility for new applicants.

It also would have extended the program for three years, instead of five.

Fraser said the program covers just 1,400 children -- at a cost of $280,000 annually -- in the upper income level that Naeger would have eliminated for newcomers. The cost savings to the state would have been minimal, she said.

The MC+ for Kids program is expected to cost about $100 million next fiscal year, with about three-fourths of the money coming from the federal government, according to the Department of Social Services.

Health insurance bill is HB1926 (Fraser).