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PROVIDENCE, RI -- An advocacy group is seeking to convince state legislators to expand eligibility for the state subsidized health insurance program known as RIte Care.
The proposal comes as Governor Carcieri is seeking to eliminate pregnant women at the higher-end of the current eligibility scale as part of his deficit cutting plan.
The child advoccy group Rhode Island KIDS Count is proposing to raise the family-income ceiling from 250 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $45,775 annually for a family of three, to 300 percent , or $54,930. If the ceiling were raised, an additional 1,900 children would qualify for coverage.
Families making more than 300 percent of the poverty level could "buy'' into the state subsidized program.
The proposal, aired at a House Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, would also reinstate coverage for an estimated 1,300 immigrant children who are non-citizens, but "lawfully residing in Rhode Island.''
The proposal springs from the reauthorization by Congress of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides a federal match, not previously available, for children in both of these groups.
"The state of Rhode Island is facing challenging times and so are many families. Our neighbors and friends need secure, affordable health coverage now more than ever,'' said a fact-sheet distributed by KIDS Count. The fact sheet also says that Washington state has already extended coverage to families making 300 percent of the federal poverty level; Iowa is poised to do so on July 1 and Ohio's governor plans to do so as well "pending legislative approval.''
Asked the chances of a Rite Care expansion this year, House Finance Chairman Steven Costantino, D-Providence, said lawmakers are still trying to figure out what they can and can't do under the rules for the hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars headed Rhode Island's way.
"It is our understanding that with just the the stimulus package, if you expand eligibility, you won't be eligible for the enhanced match..so there are some little tricky things involved with some of the money we are getting from Washington,'' he said. Beyond that, "it is going to be a difficult year to expand any program,'' he said.
"The issue in all of this is whether or not the state can afford the match, not whether or not we get [extra] federal money because we are putting the match up....and the biggest issue is the exit strategy from all of these programs ....based on a revenue source that disappears which enhances the structural deficit which then will mean Rhode Island will not take advantage of that point in time when the recovery happens.''
There was no immediate action by his committee on the proposal.
The Carcieri administration has scheduled a hearing for April 2 on the governor's proposal to eliminate the 100 percent state-subsidized coverage for pregnant women from families earning between 250 percent and 350 percent of the federal poverty level, which equates to $64,085 annually for a family of three.
This group has been eligible for medical assistance through an existing buy-in provision that costs the women a flat $300 monthly premium, with state-only dollars paying the balance since there have been no available federal matching dollars for this group.
Estimates are the move would effect two women in the final month of this year and as many as 28 next year.
The hearing on this proposal has been scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 at conference center at the Eleanor Slater Hospital complex, 111 Howard Avenue, Cranston.
