More kids first
In keeping with our very recent theme of expanding health insurance at the state level, the do-good Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, which concocted ARKids First, says that, if we'd put a puny $4 million more in state general revenue into the program, we could turn it into $16 million with the federal match. That should be enough, the organization says, to extend the children's health insurance program from covering younsters in households with incomes up to twice the poverty level, as now, to covering youngsters in households with incomes up to three times the poverty level. That'd be up to $50,000 a year for a family of four, give or take. Households with incomes between $35,000 or so and $50,000 or so represent the fastest-growing group in the state, percentage-wise. This would require a federal Medicaid waiver, but we are led to believe that, tomorrow night, George W. will call for expedited state waivers so that states can better extend health insurance to the uncovered. In time, we might be like Pennsylvania, which now covers virtually all its children, with a higher buy-in for higher-income households. Failing federal universal health care, this ever-expanding state patchwork is the way to go.