Kentucky drops health insurance fee for some poor kids, By Deborah Yetter, August 24, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Kentucky has dropped a $20 monthly premium that some low-income parents had to pay for state health insurance for their children. The charge ended last month, when the new state budget took effect, according to Gov. Steve Beshear. He had pledged to eliminate the fee for coverage through the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program, or KCHIP, a Medicaid program for low-income children. ‘In these tough economic times, we’re doing everything we can to make sure children have access to quality health care,’ Beshear said Tuesday. The governor had included the measure, which will cost the state about $370,000 a year, in his proposed budget, and lawmakers approved it when they passed the spending plan in May…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty