Clinton Backs Senate Child Insurance Plan

US President Bill Clinton has approved Senators Jay Rockefeller andJohn Chafee's $16 billion compromise plan for a major expansion of Medicaid to extend health care benefits to up to half the USA's uninsured children.

Some Congressional aides said the bipartisan plan seems to have enough votes to pass the Senate Finance Committee, despite opposition from chairman William Roth and other Senate leaders, but a panel spokesman said it looks like a close vote. Should the compromise pass, it would find it tough in the full Senate, since leading Republicans in Congress and state governments prefer expanding coverage to the children through grants the states could use to design their own systems.

The Chafee plan allocates $12 billion to expand Medicaid and $4 billion in new grants to the states. Before receiving new Medicaid funds, states would have to expand the program to all poor children under 18 and keep many on the rolls for a full year rather than cutting them off if income rose. To be eligible for block grants, states would have to provide a year of continuous cover for poor children up to 133% of poverty. A revised plan from Senator Roth calls for a state to agree to expand Medicaid to poor children through age 18 in order to have access to block grants.