With the decision by the U.S. Congress to provide millions of dollars to states to assist in providing health insurance to children, Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rochelle Chronister today asked Kansas Sen. Sandy Praeger to chair a work group to make recommendations on the best ways to use this funding.

The recently-passed 1997 Budget Reconciliation Act will provide $20.25 billion in federal funds over five years for children's health coverage. Of this, Kansas will receive $153 million, or about $32 million a year for five years. The federal funding must be matched by about $12.3 million a year by the state, so the total available to provide health insurance for uninsured children is almost $44.3 million per year.

"This gives us a unique opportunity to do something for the uninsured children of Kansas," Chronister said. "We asked Sen. Praeger to bring together experts on the issue of health care and health insurance to study our options and develop a plan for Kansas."

Sen. Praeger, working with Secretary Chronister, said she was putting together a work group that will include people with knowledge of all aspects of this very important issue. She also said the work group will face some difficult decisions.

"There are a lot of issues," she said. "We need to focus on the importance of providing expanded children's coverage in a way that can be sustained over time."

Praeger said the work group will include a cross section of people involved in children's issues, health care, health insurance, education, business, and other private industry. They will begin work almost immediately to develop recommendations which will be presented to the Governor and the Legislature in January, 1998.

Sen. Praeger, who chairs the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, said she will invite several other lawmakers to join the committee. These include Rep. Carlos Mayans, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, Sen. Marge Petty, minority leader of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Henry Helgerson, minority leader of the House Appropriations Committee. The Health Care Institute, in cooperation with SRS policy staff, will provide staffing for the work group.

"This is a great opportunity, and we want to do it right," Sen. Praeger said.

Secretary Chronister said there are more than 70,000 children in Kansas who now are without health care insurance. She said the opportunity to provide insurance should not be missed. She also pointed out that although the funding can be applied for beginning in October, the state should not be too hasty in determining a plan for providing additional children's health care coverage.

"Funding will not be lost if we are able to get a plan to the Governor and Legislature in coming session," she said. "Rather than throw together a plan that may be inadequate over the long term, we want to study the issue in detail and put together a plan that will truly be of benefit to Kansas children now and in the future. They are depending on us to do this right."

Sen. Praeger said the federal funding for uninsured children comes with a number of choices for Kansas. The funding can be used either to expand coverage for children under Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, or to provide subsidies to purchase premiums for children's health care policies from private health insurance companies. Praeger said another choice is a combination of both methods, expanding Medicaid and premium subsidies. If states choose to provide subsidies for health insurance, the benefit package made available must be decided upon.

Sen. Praeger also pointed to a number of choices in how to provide the state match. Once again, she said a combinations of approaches could be used.

"There really are numerous options to be considered," she said.

Sen. Praeger said she was going in with an open mind on how to set up the program.

"We know kids are going without health insurance," Praeger said. "For them, we need to determine the best methods to put an end to that."

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001