Ohio resubmits more modest SCHIP expansion plan to feds

A month and a half after the federal government rejected Ohio's original request for an expansion in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the Strickland administration has "asked federal regulators to approve a more modest expansion of Ohio's popular children's health insurance program. The state is proposing to offer insurance to children living in families earning up to 250% of the federal poverty level--$42.925 a year for a family of three--beginning April 1. Eligibility for Ohio's SCHIP program currently is capped at 200%." (Source: "Try, Try Again," Columbus Dispatch Daily Briefing, Feb. 4, 2008.) The state expects the expansion will bring an additional 8,168 children into the program this year and 10,750 more next year.