Iowa Legislature Approves, North Dakota Legislature Rejects CHIP Expansions
Summaries of recent CHIP action in Iowa and North Dakota appear below.
- Iowa: The state Legislature on Friday approved a $7.5 million CHIP expansion that supporters say would expand coverage to 53,000 uninsured children in the state, the AP/USA Today reports. The state House voted 95-0 to approve the measure, followed by the Senate's 39-9 vote. Under the bill, eligibility requirements for CHIP would be expanded to include children in families with incomes of up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Supporters say that the legislation would virtually guarantee that all children in the state would have coverage. The bill is the final portion of the Legislature's three-part health care expansion. Funding for the expansion will be included in a separate spending measure (Glover, AP/USA Today, 4/25).
- North Dakota: The state House on Friday voted 47-41 to reject a bill (HB 1478) that would have expanded the state's CHIP, the AP/Rockford Register Star reports. Under the bill, children in families with incomes of up to 200% of the poverty level would have been eligible for CHIP. Currently, children in families with incomes of up to 150% of the poverty level are eligible for CHIP. The expansion was included in Gov. John Hoeven's (R) budget proposal. The state Health and Human Services Commission estimated that the bill would result in coverage for more than 1,100 additional children each month. As of January, about 3,400 children were enrolled in CHIP (Wetzel, AP/Rockford Register Star, 4/25).