Strickland criticizes feds SCHIP rejection

In Washington D.C. on Tuesday to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Gov. Ted Strickland "criticized the Bush administration for blocking an expansion of a government health insurance program to cover uninsured Ohio children." (Source: "Strickland criticizes federal denial of health insurance expansion," Gannet News Service, Feb. 26, 2008.) Strickland said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' rejection of an Ohio plan to expand Medicaid eligibility for children in families up to 300% of the federal poverty level was a "clever bureaucratic maneuver" which denied coverage to an estimated 20,000 children. He also criticized several regulatory changes made in the Medicaid program which, while saving the federal government money, will drive up costs in Ohio and decrease the equality of care.