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:: 11.12.2003 ::
I followed a link to a story about Texas schools holding onto violent students because they collect $15/day for each child enrolled (gah), and found this story: AUSTIN -- More than 54,000 low-income children dropped off the rolls of a popular state health insurance program this year as new, stricter rules passed by the Legislature took effect.
From June 1 to Nov. 1, enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program fell from 512,986 to 458,166, the Center for Public Policy Priorities reported Tuesday.
Even before the 11 percent enrollment decline in CHIP, Texas led the nation in the rate of uninsured, with one in four residents lacking health insurance.
The center said that 49,000 of the children who would have been enrolled in CHIP are not enrolled because of policy changes that took effect in September.
Among the changes are a three-month waiting period for enrollment, the inability to deduct child care and child support payments in calculating income and a requirement to recertify twice a year instead of once.
Other changes are still to come, including a stricter assets test to qualify for the program.
Anne Dunkelberg, health policy analyst at the center, said the figures suggest that estimates of a 169,000 enrollment cut over the next two years is no exaggeration.
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The assets test won't begin until January. It will apply to families above 150 percent of the federal poverty line -- $27,600 for a family of three -- and will limit a family's assets to $5,000. Assets will include any money in checking or savings accounts, plus certain values placed on vehicles.
[emphasis added] Are we sure we want George W. Bush to "do for America what he has done for Texas"?
:: Deb 12:08 PM :: permalink ::
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